Campione, unclear path
by Library of the mind
Summary: Dante and Maria had been traveling the most of their life with their father around the world. Even after their fathers death and that Dante became a Campione have they kept traveling around the world. Now back in their home country Italy and meeting the future God Slayer Godou, how will it affect the future and will they finally find their own path. Chapter 3 Updated.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Campione or any of its characters. I only own my OC'c.**

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Chapter 1

Two people was walking along the crowded streets of Sardinia in Italy. One of them was a young man around the age 16 or 17 with blonde hair with a hint of brown. He was relatively tall, as he was a bit taller than most people around him, he was slightly tanned and had a slender but well trained build. His eyes was a light shade of purple. He's wearing a long sleeved, black button up shirt and jeans.

The other one was a girl about 12 years old. She had long light brown hair and like the boy she to had purple eyes behind a pair of glasses. She was much shorter than the boy in front of her and had a slender build. She was dressed in a white shirt, a black skirt almost reaching her knees and black leggings. Both of them was carrying a backpack.

"Hey, big brother?" the smaller girl said trying to get her brother's attention.

"What is it Maria?" he responded as he stopped walking to look back at his sister.

"Do you know where the train station is located?"

The boy looked up at the sky as he was in deep thought. After thinking for nearly a minute he looked down at Maria and answered. "Nope, I don't even know if they have one here."

Maria just sighed before looking up at her big brother with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Dante, are you telling me that for the last 20 minutes we have been walking around, without having any idea where the train station is or if there was one to begin with?" she asked her brother sounding very pissed. Dante stepped back a little as he saw how his sister had reacted to his answer.

"Take it easy Maria. Remember, we aren't completely lost. All we have to do is find someone that is on their way there and ask for directions."

Before she was able to answer she was cut off as her brother turned around to answer a person that had tapped his shoulder.

"Yes what is it?" he asked in fluent Italian.

"Um, I'm searching for a train station" the person informed him in English. Maria just face palmed herself and walked past her brother to look at the person. It was a young man about her brother's age with black hair and eyes. He was shorter than Dante and didn't look as well trained. He was dressed in a light blue hoodie and dark blue pants. But what caught her attention was the bright golden string that was attached to his chest, over his heart. A string only she could see.

It told her about Victory.

It told her about a Champion.

It told her about a Devil King.

It told her about a-

She quickly shook it off while she pushed up her glasses a bit

"We're sorry but we are also in search of a train station." She told the boy in fluent Japanese. This shocked the newcomer as he wasn't ready to hear someone talk to him in Japanese.

"I-I see." he said as his shoulders slumped a little. Dante walked over to him and patted him on the shoulder. The boy looked up at him.

"We are all looking for the same destination, so how about tagging along. The name's Dante." He said pointing at himself with his thumb. He then pointed over at his sister. "And this is my little sister Maria"

The boy thought about for a while before giving his answer. "That sounds like a good idea, I'll tag along. My name's Godou. Kusanagi Godou."

The three started to walk together and soon started to talk with each other. Godou told them that he was searching for a lady his grandfather had meet when he was younger to give back an old stone tablet that he had gotten from his grandfather. Dante and Maria told him that they had been traveling around the world for the last couple of years with their father and was now in Italy to meet their mother.

"What does this tablet look like?" Dante asked a little bit curious.

"Like this." Godou picked up a tablet made out of stone with a picture carved into it and some ancient text at the other side. "But I have to say, it's a really weird tablet."

"Nah, I've seen weir-"

"You, over there!"

Dante wasn't able to finish as he was cut of by a Italian speaking voice in front of them. They all turned away their attention from the tablet and saw that the owner of the voice was a beautiful young woman with long blonde hair reaching her lower back and blue eyes. She was dressed in a red dress without shoulder straps, showing a generous amount of bust. She was sending a sharp gaze towards Godou, ignoring the other two.

"Me?" Godou asked as he pointed at himself.

She reached behind herself and pulled out a knife and pointed it at him.

"Hand over that grimoire immediately." she ordered him, still speaking Italian. Godou looked over at Dante.

"What did she say?"

"She wants you to give her that stone tablet."

"Eh, why does she want this?" he said looking down at said tablet. "Dante, could you please tell her that I can't speak Italian." He asked the older boy. Dante smiled as he took a step forward, catching the blond beauty's attention.

"My friend Godou here can't speak Italian and he's wondering why you want his tablet." He explained to the young woman. She seemed to understand as she was now speaking in Japanese.

"Well then. Hand over that grimoire immediately." she ordered once again without explaining why she wanted the tablet.

This just confused Godou even further. He looked down at the tablet and repeated the word she had said. "Grimoire?"

"A kind of magical text that is either contained in a book or in this case stone tablet." Dante explained to the slightly younger boy as he didn't seem to understand. The woman turned her attention once again away from the black haired boy to look at the taller boy.

"It seems that you're familiar with magic. What is your name?" she asked as she pointed the knife towards Dante instead but was still keeping an eye on Godou.

"My name's Dante."

"I meant your full name." the red dressed beauty said a little bit irritated.

"Oh, my bad. My full name is Dante Z-"

Before he was able to finish he was cut off by the earth starting to shake and an ear deafening roar. Godou had cover his ears but the other three looked fine. The world around them then completely changed color. The buildings around them turned either a light shade of purple or more of a grayish shade, and the sky turned green.

"It can't be" the blond beauty said in disbelief as she turned her head towards the direction of the roars. Dante and Maria also turned to look at where they came from.

"What's that roar coming from?" Godou asked, only to see a boar bigger than any building in the area with a flaming mane, coming out of the ground. "What is that?"

"A god… a-"

"Heretic God" Dante said as he punched the palm of his hand in excitement. This caught the attention of the young woman besides him.

"You can't be serious about trying fight that thing." she exclaimed in disbelief as she pointed at the huge beast. Dante just walked past her in the direction of the huge boar, before looking towards her over his shoulder.

"But you're going to, am I right, Diavolo Rosso: Erica Blandelli?" he asked the now identified Erica. She took a step back being a little shocked that he had probably known her identity from the very beginning. But how was that possible? Her name might be well known through all magic organizations but her appearance not as much. So how did he know? But before she could ask him he had already dashed towards the boars location. She quickly shook it off and turned her attention to the people still standing besides her.

"You guys should run"

Godou didn't hesitate as he took Maria's hand and started running away from the beast, while Erica started running towards it. A red car started to follow her and she jumped up onto the roof of the car.

"Erica-sama, where are we heading?" The black haired maid named Arianna asked as she drove the car towards the boar.

"It's still in the port. Take Rome Road south."

"Understood." Arianna replied as she turned sharply to the left. They could now see the rampaging boar more clearly now. Boats had been thrown into the air and it was destroying nearby building like they were made of paper rather than stone.

"We need to stop it." Erica then noticed something out of the corner of her eye and looked up. One of the boats that had been flung was falling right towards them. But before the boat could hit them, turned the car to the right and Erica launched herself of it, towards the god. She shouted back to her maid that this was good enough. She looked towards one of the buildings before speaking.

"Fly, Boots of Hermes." As she said those words formed a magic circle with a rose in the middle underneath her feet and sent her upwards.

She landed on the rooftop and noticed that the blonde guy from earlier also was there. He turned his head to see her out of the corner of his eye. He then gave a smile as he spoke.

"Finally here. I've been waiting."

Erica didn't like him, he was to sure of himself, he had figured out her identity as soon as they had meet and he was to carefree in this situation. She then noticed that he had dropped his smile and instead looked serious. She was a bit confused by this until he spoke.

"Is Maria safe?"

"Yes. The other boy took her with him when he started running away from the god." She answered him and saw that he seemed to have gotten a little bit calmer.

"I have to thank Godou then when this is over."

Before Erica could say anything she noticed two things. One was that the boar had turned its attention towards them and was now slowly walking towards them. But because of it's size it still moved fast enough to get to them in only a couple of minutes. The other was the runes. Around Dante in a circle was eighth runes placed on the ground. Each one of them was of a different shape but all of them was of the color silver, indicating that they were either made of silver or steel.

This reminded her what she was about to do and turned towards the beast. She was then enveloped in red light that quickly disappeared. She was now dressed in a black and red striped combat uniform. She held out her hand in front of her and in front of her formed the same magic circle that she had used before.

"Lion of steel… and he who begets you, the Lionheart." as she finished speaking those words, started gusts of wind to be sent out of the circle. Then barely a moment sooner started a lion head of steel to make it's way through the magic circle.

"Heed the oath made by Knight Erica Blandelli!" as on command opened the lion its metallic jaws and let out a roar. Erica ran towards the lion and reached her hand into its mouth. She then pushed away from the lion and spun a pirouette with red light following the hand that had been in the lion's throat. She flicked the light to the side and it fell of the blade like it had been water.

"It's time for a duel." she said as she put the blade in front of her face. She then stretched it upwards as she shouted the name of her blade. "Cuore di Leone!"

"Most impressive indeed, but I shouldn't expect any less from the Diavolo Rosso."

She ignored his praise as she swung her sword downwards, sending a wave of red energy towards the boar. But before it could hit, it was stopped by some kind of barrier.

"I knew it. This is a divine beast. The gods want to start a fight here." she declared as she saw that her attack hadn't done anything to the beast. She turned towards Dante before asking. "So tell me… what are you going to do?"

A smile spread across Dante's face as she had asked the question, Erica was shooked by this until she felt a sudden wave of power emit from him. The runes also seemed to react as they had started to give of a light blue glow.

"Come to me my soldiers. Descend from the hall were true warriors feast and stand by my side. Forward to battle to destroy our enemies before returning to the great hall once more. Come to me, my Einherjar!" He stretched out his arms like he was welcoming someone with open arms as he finished the incantation. The runes around him started merging two and two, becoming four light blue orbs of light. They then became the shapes of well trained men, before being covered with fur and armor. Each one of them was dressed in an animal skin jacket and pants. They all had shoulder guards and viking helmets in the same silver as the runes they had appeared from. Each one of them carried an iron spear in one hand and a shield in the other. Hanging from their waists was an iron sword.

They all stood in attention, waiting for their orders.

"Now my warriors, I want you to send that beast back as best as you can. Do not kill it!" He ordered his fur clad warriors and they instantly pointed their spear heads towards the rampaging boar. Sending beams of the same kind of energy that Erica had fired before, but stronger, much stronger. The god felt the force of the approaching attack even at this distance and braised itself for impact. As each beam hit it's barrier of divinity it was sent back a couple of meters before stopping, leaving huge traces where its hoof had been dragged over the ground.

Erica couldn't believe what was happening in front of her. There were only supposed to be six Campione. Six! But right in front of her was someone using the power of a god that wasn't one of the six god slayers. But the only explanation for this is that he is a Campione. But there hadn't been any reports about Heretic Gods recently. She was cut out of her thoughts as he spoke to her.

"Erica, you can leave, I've got this."

Erica didn't know how to react. She knew that a Campione's words were absolute. But she was still not sure if he was a god slayer or just a powerful mage, an impossibly powerful mage. No there wasn't any other explanation, this guy is a god slayer. So she had to obey.

"Yes!" She responded before running in the opposite direction from the boar, jumping from one building to another. As she left the battlefield, Dante raised his hand in a stop sign. The warriors in front of him all stopped their attack, waiting for their next orders. The boar was quickly regaining its strength and was soon ready to make the boy one with pavement.

"Do you wanna continue, avatar of Verethragna?"

He was answered as the rampaging boar immediately started to run straight towards him, crushing everything in its way. Dante smiled as he saw it stampede towards him and gave his soldiers their command.

"Fire"

With Godou and Maria

Godou was running as fast as he could while dragging Maria with him. She wasn't nearly as fast as him so he couldn't run at his top speed. He looked back at her to make sure that she was okej.

"Is everything alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine."

"That's good-" he responded before his foot kicked some rubble, catching him off balance and fell to the ground dragging Maria with him, making him drop the grimoire and Maria to lose her glasses.

"Jeez… hey Maria, are you alright?" Godou asked as pushed himself off the ground. He looked around him, searching for the tablet.

"...Yeah, I'm alright." She responded as she stood up, her eyes were closed the entire time as she looked for her glasses. She stopped searching as she felt someone tap her shoulder.

"I think these belongs to you" the new voice said as she felt her glasses slip into her hands. She fumbled a little as she hurriedly put them to face, before opening her eyes. When she opened them she was meet by sight of a 15 year old boy with blue hair and green eyes. He was dressed in a dark blue robe that covered the most of his body and what looked like a long sleeved toga underneath. He also had some kind of tattoo on his forehead. In his hand was Godou's dropped grimoire. He looked at the older boy and asked. "Does this belong to you?"

"Y-Yeah. But we have to get away from here there is some kind of monster."

The young boy just laughed a little before responding. "This is funny."

"Funny?" Godou asked, not really sure what the boy meant. "Actually, who are you? Your Japanese is kind of strange..."

"I am the Victor. I am the strongest and that which will defeat every enemy."

"Victor?"

"Though I don't think it's necessarily bad to have a taste of defeat. I tried to revive the king of the ancient gods, in order to fight them, but I have yet to be defeated."

"You make me feel like I'm talking with my grandfather…"

"Now tell me what are you doing here with this grimoire?"

"Uh, I'm here because my grandfather asked me to deliver it."

The boy looked down at the grimoire. He then started laughing, more than he had done before. "How nice, how nice. It seems you're a good kid, a good warrior. This thief has told me so!"

Godou didn't understand what he was saying and just stood there. He then felt Maria tug at his sleeve, catching his attention. Her expression looked like a mix between worried and scared.

"Are you going, warrior?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry but we have to get of here. So could you please give that back."

The boy looked down at the tablet before handing it over while saying, "Very well. I shall let you hang on to it."

"Hold on to it? This is supposed to be mine…"

He then noticed light coming from behind him and he turned around. There stood a white horse with a blonde mane that appeared to radiate light. Maria also saw it and just stared in awe.

"Pretty" she whispered to herself while Godou was more choked about it. His grimoire then started to glow and created a powerful flash of light, forcing both of them to close their eyes. When the light had faded they opened their eyes and saw that both the boy and the horse had disappeared.

"What was that?" He asked to no one in peticular.

"I finally found you two."

Godou and Maria turned around as they heard the voice of the blond woman from earlier. This confused Godou a little as she had ran towards the beast to fight it. And it wasn't dead as he had just heard its roar.

"Wait, if you're here then who is it that has been keeping that monster away."

Erica didn't answer and just looked down at Maria with a sharp gaze.

"He showed you, didn't he?" Maria asked the blond knight.

"Wait, showed what?" Godou asked as he was completely lost in this discussion.

"We don't have time for that. Look!" The blond woman responded as she pointed towards a nearby building. On its roof stood Dante with only two of his Einherjars left. It was a stalemate between the two of them as neither of them was about to give up.

The boar knew this was its last chance to attack the boy, so it was pushing every ounce of its strength into this last action. It had lost it barrier, but it's hide was enough to protect it from most of the damage.

Dante was also pushing himself to the max to push the beast back, even as he felt the after effect of his Authority slowly weakening him.

The boar was closing in. It lowered its head and lifted it with all its might, turning the building its opponent had been standing on into rubble. Sending Dante flying and his warriors turned into light blue particles of light. The boar was then surrounded by a tornado. It was impossible for it to move as it didn't have any strength left

"A tornado..." Godou said a little shocked that a tornado had just appeared right in front of him out of nowhere.

"That's a avatar of a god!"

As she said that started the boar to glow brighter and brighter with the same kind of light from before. It then glowed so bright that everybody had to close their eyes. And when they opened them again was the boar gone and the world had returned to normal.

"What in the world just happened?"

"Aaaaahhhhh!"

"Huh?" Godou looked up at the sky as he heard the screaming getting closer. Up in the air was the falling form of Dante, quickly approaching the ground. As he made contact with the ground made the force of his fall a cloud of dust to get kicked up, blocking everyone's view. When the the cloud subsided could they see that he had made a human sized crater in the pavement. Godou ran over to the crater and looked down into it. There was Dante lying still, his body was covered in bruises and his clothes had been torn.

"Hey are you okay?" He asked as he helped the older boy sit up. He was a little bit shocked that he didn't have any worse wounds than those bruises.

"Yeah, it's just I'm really…" before he could finish was he cut out by a growl that almost rivaled that boar from before. This made Erica and Godou to tense as they looked around them, but they couldn't see anything that looked like it could have made that noise. They then understood what it was when Dante finished. "Hungry."

Later…

Godou, Erica, Dante and Maria had as soon possible searched for someplace to eat before continuing towards a train station. Right now was Godou and Erica sitting outside waiting for the train while the other to was inside talking about the train's departure times. Erica was just done explaining about Heretic gods and why he was able to see one.

"You have such a powerful grimoire, but you don't even know that much?"

"I've been telling you, I'm only here to return this."

"To whom?"

"Uh, let's see…" he said as he started to search his back pocket for the note with the name and address of the person he was gonna return it to. "Lucretia Zola."

"Lucretia? The great mage, the Witch of Sardinia? Why would she give a grimoire like that to a Japanese person?"

"I don't really know, but my grandfather got it when he was young. It sounds like he dated Lucretia-san a long time ago." He informed her.

"You're grandfather is quite sociable, then."

"Why are you looking at me?" he asked before remembering something that he wanted to ask. "Back then when Dante was fighting that... god. How come he was able to fight back?"

Erica looked at Godou as he had asked her the question. After a short pause she answered. "That was the power of one that has slayed a god and become a King. A Campione."

"Slayed a god? How is that possible?"

"It isn't. It's impossible to kill a god." She responded as she looked him deep in the eyes.

"But then how come…" Godou tried to ask but couldn't get the words out of his mouth. Erica was about to answer but stopped as she saw Dante and Maria returning.

"By going against the world's logic itself or have an absurd amount of luck." Dante explained as he stood besides the bench they were sitting on. "And we have some bad news. All trains today has been canceled."

As he said that, stopped Godou to care about the news about his new friend and shoot up from his seat. "What, why?"

"Because there has apparently been a hurricane that has swept over the island." he said as he scratched the back of his head before continuing. "So we will have to get a new means of transportation. "

"That won't be a problem. After all, I do have access to a car. All you have to do is tell me where you wanna go." She offered with a smile as she stood up from her seat on the bench.

"Oh… alright, thanks." He thanked her with a small bow. She gave him a smile and turned her attention towards Godou.

"Godou, could you please carry my luggage to the car?"

"Huh? Why in the world would I carry your luggage? And why are you coming with us anyway?" He asked her as he hadn't been told why she was tagging along with them.

"I can't leave you guys now can I. After all, you possess a powerful grimoire and he is a an unknown Campione that wasn't revealed until just recently." She informed them as she pointed at Godou and Dante respectively. "It is my duty as a knight of the Copper Black Cross to keep an eye at both of you. And regarding you Godou, you should feel lucky. Under normal circumstances, would I have taken that grimoire from you at swords point."

Godou, Dante and Maria just stared at her as all of them remembered how their first meeting had went. After almost a minute of silence decided Godou to speak. "Didn't you threaten me with a knife as soon as we meet."

"What are you talking about?" She asked him with an innocent smile. This pissed Godou of. But before he could respond, felt he a hand on his shoulder. He looked back and saw Dante with a reassuring as he slowly shook his head. Telling him it wasn't worth it. He then proceeded to take one of Erica's bags before walking past her, towards where the car was parked. Godou looked at the older boy before turning towards the smiling beauty. He then took the other bag and followed Dante towards the car.

Meanwhile turned Erica her attention towards Maria, her smile dropping slightly. Maria gave her a nervous smile as the two stared at each other. Maria didn't know what to say to break the awkward silence. They just stood there quiet before Erica decided to break the silence. "I have two questions to ask you. My first one: what are you? You give of the same feel as a Campione but at the same time you don't. So tell me what are you."

Maria looked down at the ground, her glasses slipping down the bridge of her nose. She looked up as they were now at the edge of her nose. She could see them. The strings sprouting from where Erica's heart was located. Some of the strings shout of into the distance towards people far away while others drifted towards people nearby like Godou, Dante and herself.

"I am not a Campione but I'm not human either. I am human but a Campione at the same time. This is what mother Pandora told me when I was given the power of a god."

This just confused Erica as she didn't really understand what she was saying. So she just kept quiet and Maria continued.

"I am the world's first half Campione. While I can use the power of the god I slayed, without a strong enough seal I would drop dead on the ground after using it just once. This is one of the reasons we have to meet our mother."

Erica just stared at Maria shocked. This little girl had said it like she was ready to let death embrace her at any moment. She was cut out of her thoughts as she heard Maria speaking once more. "So what is your second question?"

Erica was quiet for a bit before responding. "I was never answered before when I asked for your and your brothers full name. "

As Erica said that noticed Maria that one of the strings that had shootout into the distance started to move, like a wind that only it could feel had blown over it. Maria smiled as she responded. "I don't need to tell you. You will find out soon enough." She then proceeded to follow where the two older boys had went, leaving Erica there confused. Erica then just shrugged it off and started walking towards her car where the others were waiting for her.

They then sat down into the car. Arianna asked them where they were going and Erica told her that they were going to the Witch of Sardinia's mansion.

Erica was sitting besides Arianna as she was driving the car towards their location while the other three was sitting in the back. Dante was sitting behind Arianna's seat while Godou was behind Erica's, between them was Maria.

As they were driving towards their location was Godou, Maria and Dante sitting there frozen in fear of Ariannas driving. Dante was experienced with fighting monsters and sometimes even gods without fear and Maria was always aware that one day death might claim her, but they couldn't help but feel fear as they were driving along the road. For Godou it was a lot more understandable as this was his first day with these kind of life threatening dangers, and Erica was experienced with how Arianna was driving so she didn't worry at all.

After a couple of hours driving had they arrived outside Lucretia's mansion. Godou almost jumped out of the car and Erica stepped out calmly. "Arianna's only flaws as a maid is that she can't make a good stew, and she can't drive."

"I think I noticed." Dante responded from inside the car as he tried to make Maria let go of her seatbelt. She had been clutching it for her life during the entire ride here, and she wouldn't let go even after the car had stopped.

"I thought I was going to die." Godou said between pants as he tried to breath normally.

"I haven't seen you before. Who are you?" A voice said from the mansion's direction. Erica and Godou turned towards it's source and saw a black cat sitting at the top of the roof looking down on them.

"A cat?"

"We are here with a delivery from Kusanagi Ichirou, Lucretia Zola-sama"

"Ichirou…"

"Did somebody call?" Dante asked as he peaked out from the car. Erica turned her head towards him, not understanding why he would have responded to that. The black cat turned it's head towards where Erica was staring and looked at the figure. Wait, that brown blonde hair, those purple eyes, the aura of a god slayer, it had to be.

"Dante…" the cat whispered to itself as it recognised the young man. Dante looked up at the cat. But before he could say anything stepped Maria out of the car as fast as she could. The cat followed the movement of the youngest in the group before whispering. "Maria…"

Erica didn't know what to say as Lucretia had recognized both Dante and Maria as soon as she saw them. She didn't complain, it just confused her to no end.

As they were lead into the house by the black cat and followed it into one of the rooms they were meet by the sight of a lady from around her late twenties to early thirties. She was dressed in purple lingerie and was lying down in the rooms couch. She had light brown hair and purple eyes. And a body that would put most models to shame.

"Sorry… I shouldn't be lazy just because I can use magic." She apologized while she stroke the head of the cat that had lead them here. Godou was looking down on her with a blush across his cheeks.

"S-She's young."

"Hmm? What's the matter?" She asked as she looked up at the blushing boy.

"N-No… It's just, my grandfather said he met you when…"

"Well, I might be pretty old, compared to a normal human being. But I'm nowhere near starting to decline… Or what do you say… Dante?" She asked the oldest of the group. He could hear as Erica muttered the word lewd and let out a sigh.

"If you say things like that people will start to misunderstand." He said as he scratched his head. "And yes, you're not starting to get old, Mom."

""Wait, what, Mom?"" Both Erica and Godou asked at the same time, their eyes going between Dante and Lucretia. They could see some similarities. They shared the same eye color, except for that Dante's was of a lighter shade. Dante even had some of Lucretia's facial features. They then turned towards Maria who was standing besides Dante. They could see that Maria and Lucretia was related now when they were right in front of each other. Maria had almost identical facial features, the same brown hair and purple eyes.

"Yeah. Is it really that shocking?" Dante asked.

"Yes." Godou almost shouted at him. "Especially when she has dated my grandpa. MY GRANDPA!"

"Ah, I can still remember those days when Ichirou and I would spend our days and nights together." She told them as she sat up in the couch. Her gaze then sharpened as she looked up at Godou. "And then your grandmother made him promise to never see me again."

"Well, ehm, I" Godou stuttered under the older womans gaze. Lucretia's gaze softened a bit before continuing.

"I'm not mad about it if that's what you think. After all…" she turned her head towards her children. "If he hadn't left me I would never have meet their father. Oh, I still remember our first night together."

Both Godou and Maria blushed as Lucretia hugged herself as she was reminded of the old good days. Dante excused himself and said that he needed some air. Leaving the others with his and Maria's mother. Lucretia stopped with what she was doing and picked up the stone tablet lying in front of her.

"The Secret Book of Prometheus… That also brings back memories."

"Prometheus!" proclaimed Erica.

"Yes." Lucretia responded as she looked down at the tablet. She could feel it. The heat of the sun. The flame of the heavens that brought forth victory.

"So what do you plan to do with it?" Erica asked the older woman.

"I'm not sure… It would be terrible if bad people began gathering because this was around. If possible, I'd like someone to look after it. I could possibly have Dante and Maria look over it."

Erica's smile quickly turned into a light frown. She couldn't disagree that having a King looking over it would be the best way to make sure that it didn't get stolen. But if she could get her hands on it and send it to the Copper Black Cross, it would be a great benefit for them. She didn't think much farther as Lucretia continued.

"Tell me Boy… Did you run into anyone else on your way here?"

"Not really… Oh, I ran into this kid with Maria. He had a weird manner of speech."

"Hmm, very well. I'll give it to you." She declared, before throwing the tablet to the boy. This shocked the boy as he had just returned it, but he caught it as he didn't want it to break.

"Wait just a second! He's a beginner at magic! If you give it to him, he'll just…" Erica protested.

"Yeah, I came all the way here just to give it back." Godou agreed with Erica.

"The god wishes for it to be in the hands of that boy." Lucretia explained.

"No way." Erica said in defeat.

"What happens by chance is inevitable. All the strings of fate are spun together. Do you not understand?"

A blush appeared on Erica's cheeks before she responded. "O-Of course I don't understand! A precious grimoire from the era of the gods… I can't believe this foolishness!" She turned around and walked out of the room leaving Godou and Maria with the Witch of Sardinia.

With Dante

Dante had walked out to the houses backyard to get some air. He stood in the middle of the backyard and was stretching a little. He felt the wind blow making the leaves rustle. He opened his eyes and looked up at the orange sky as the sun was setting. He then turned his attention to a nearby tree.

"I know you're there."

As he said that could rustling be heard from it, then in the blink of an eye had a girl with long purple hair appeared in front of Dante. She was kneeling with both of her knees at the ground, her left hand at the ground and her right arm across her chest with her hand over her heart. She was dressed in what reminded a lot of ninja attire, except that it was white and had more of an egyptian design. She had a white face mask that half of her face and her neck as well. It had a golden band over the bridge of her nose. She had an impressive figure and had tanned skin, more so than Dante. She looked up at him with yellow eyes, much like those of a cat.

"I wouldn't expect less from you, Lord Dante." The girl said humbly before she looked down at the ground again.

Dante just sighed before asking. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm here to deliver what you asked for." She informed as she took out three vials from her cleavage. Each of the vials was filled with green powders of different shades, indicating that each one was different. Dante walked closer to the girl and took the vials. He opened each one of them and took a sniff.

"This is what I asked for, thank you." He thanked the girl as he inspected the content of the vials. He then looked down at the girl again. "Now tell me why you're really here."

"I guess you knew then."

"It has to be more when I have been feeling your presence all the way from the city." He answered. "But I still don't understand how you were able to hold onto the bottom of the car."

The girl's expression instantly became scared at the mentioning of Arianna's driving. "I regret that I decided to do that." She whispered to herself. She shook it off and looked up at Dante and stared him straight in the eye.

"I have gotten some interesting news from the headquarters, Lord Dante." She began. "There is apparently three gods here in Italy at the moment. Two of which will most likely be fighting each other tomorrow."

Dante thought about what he had heard. Three gods so close to each other, it wasn't surprising that at least two of them would fight each other. But what kind of gods they were, he wasn't sure. No, that was a lie. Some of his Authority's had been reacting ever since he arrived at Sardinia.

"One of them is a god of storms." He stated calmly.

"Yes, after doing some research we were able to find out that they had fought before. The god of storms that you mentioned is Melqart, a King of Gods. And the god he fought was the Persian god of War and Victory: Verethragna." She informed him, seeing that he already knew that there was Gods not to far away.

"So it will be a fight between a King and a Warlord." He put his hand under his chin as he started to think. A toothy grin then spread over his face as he thought about the possibility to fight two gods known for their strength. "This will surely be interesting."

The girl gulped as she saw the grin. While Dante was mostly calm and didn't search for a worthy opponent, when one appeared in front of him it was like throwing a lamb into the lion's den. He would be more than happy to fight and the last time it happened was when he slayed his second god while he was in Egypt. "Don't tell me you're going to fight them. Last time you went serious we had to erase many people's memories. We almost exposed a Heretic god to the other organizations and our existence."

"Oh, how could I forget. I support a magic organization that has been keeping all the other organizations outside their country in the dark. But I guess it's for the best, considering what's going on inside your organization. For example what they did with your older brother."

"Lord Dante, I would appreciate if you didn't bring up my brothers condition." She said now a little bit irritated. "But I do agree that the Red Sands organizations methods can sometimes be… questionable."

Dante raised an eyebrows at this. "Questionable? If I remember correctly was your brother forced to read the Book of Thoth. It's a miracle that he is even alive. Don't you agree, Ebony?"

Ebony frowned as she was reminded of what had happened to her older brother. "I know very well that their methods can sometimes be cruel, but remember that without those... 'experiments' we would have disappeared long ago. And it would also mean that your sister would have been dead long ago."

"I know and I am forever grateful. Now what about the third god?" Dante asked as he had a feeling that the others started to wonder why he took so long.

"I'm sorry, my Lord. But we haven't got any information regarding the third god. But we have some speculations that tell us that it might have some kind of connection with Princess Alice's profeci of the starless night. I'm sorry my Lord but I have to go now." She told him before standing up and bowed. She then disappeared in the blink of an eye. In just that moment walked Godou out of the building.

"Hey Dante, what is taking you so long? Lucretia is about to offer us something to eat." Godou told him. Dante smiled as he walked over to the other boy.

"Well that's something I don't want to miss. I haven't tasted my mom's cooking in forever."

"It still feels a bit weird knowing that you're her son while also knowing that she dated my grandfather."

Dante thought about about it for a bit. He then responded. "Yeah it is weird. But I'm not complaining." Dante responded to the younger boy. He let go of Godou and walked into the house, leaving Godou in the backyard. Godou soon followed the older boy, but before he entered the building turned he to look at the empty backyard.

'Weird, I could have sweared that I heard him talk with somebody.' Godou thought as he thought he had heard another voice before. He shook it off and entered the house.

Later that day

Godou, Dante, Erica and Arianna was currently in the living room. Maria had gone to bed as it had gotten pretty late and Lucretia was by herself in her room. Erica had found Lucretia's wine collection earlier when they were going to eat. Right now was several bottles of Nepente DI Oliena lying on the table in a mess. Erica was currently trying to make a decoration mask pour her another glass of wine, thinking that it was Godou.

"Hey, Dante how come you're not drunk like Erica. You have even been drinking almost as much as her and Arianna combined." He asked the only other boy in the entire building. Dante was currently taking a long sip from his glass of wine as he was asked the question.

"I think it has something to do with my genetics, or the fact that I'm a Campione." He answered as he finished drinking of his wine. Godou had been lectured by Erica about what a Campione was. He still couldn't believe that Dante had slayed a god. But what was the most shocking was when Dante had told him that he had the potential to become a Campione. He didn't know why but it felt like he spoke the truth when he told him about it.

"Do you really believe that I can become a Campione?" Dante looked over at Godou as he asked the question. Godou looked straight into Dante's eyes. What was different was the fact that his right eye was currently giving of a light blue light from his iris. Dante had told them earlier that it is one of his Authorities.

"I don't believe, I know that you can become one." He answered Godou with certainty. It shocked Godou a little, but ever since Dante's eye started shining had he spoke with some kind of power behind his every word. Godou looked into the blue eye and in the next moment was he lying on the ground outside with rain falling from the dark clouds above. Floating in the air above him was the boy from earlier, with a golden sword stabbed through his chest. The body of the boy soon disappeared and was replaced with the ten incarnations that Lucretia had told him about earlier. The Gale, The Bull, The Camel, The Boar, The Youth, The Bird of Prey, The Ram, The Goat, The Warrior and The White Stallion that was currently residing inside the Book of Prometheus. Each one of them was represented on a disk that was attached to a much bigger disk, making them go around in a circle. They then started to float towards Godou and he felt as they pushed into his chest. He was then suddenly back inside the house.

"What was that?" He asked in disbelief. That had been too real to be a dream but at the same time it had been too unreal to be reality.

"That is one of the many paths that you have a choice to take." Dante informed as he stood up and started walking up the stairs. He dragged Arianna with him to her as she currently in a laughing frenzy from all the wine. Leaving Godou alone with Erica who was scolding 'Godou' for hurting her finger. Godou sighed before standing up and went to Erica to get her to her room.

When they got to the room, mistake Erica Godou for Arianna and had him undress her. As he was about to leave noticed he that the door was locked. He knocked on the door trying to get either Dante's or Lucretia's attention. Just on the other side was Dante standing there with a smile. His eye showing him that everything was now in motion. He walked away from the door to bid Lucretia good night. As he got to her room could he see her holding the key in her hand.

"Tell me what do you think of him Dante?"

"To get the favor of a god is almost unheard of in this day and age and he did it without even realising it. He posses one of the condition that is crucial to become a King." he began, knowing that she already what he was talking about.

"Absurd amounts of luck." She finished knowing what he was hinting at. She then picked up an object which was wrapped with a piece of clothe. "Care to explain what this is?" She asked her son as she pulled off the clothe. Under it was a broadsword that appeared to be completely made out of silver. Along the blade was several flames scribed into the metal that was perfectly symmetrical. Dante's gaze sharpened a little as he saw her hold up his sword.

"I have created that blade in hope of it working with my latest Authority. As it tends to destroy anything that I wield that isn't of divine origin." He informed as he took back his blade and wrapped the cloth around it once again. He walked over to the door but stopped before walking out. "Good night mom, see you tomorrow."

He then walked out of the room and towards one of the guest rooms. He didn't even bother to undress as he knew it would be an early day tomorrow. But as the cloak struck twelve started he to feel agonising pain in his chest. It felt as if he was impaled not to far from his heart. He panted slightly as the pain disappeared and he soon fell asleep.

Meanwhile, Red Sand Headquarters

Inside one of the magic organization's cells was a young man in his early to mid twenties. He was dressed in a straitjacket, some kind of shorts of unknown material and his eyes were covered by a blindfold. He was just standing there in the center of his cell, mumbling to himself. The cell was completely dark as it had no openings to let in any light and was completely sound proof to make sure that no one could hear him as his constant mumbling was spells that would turn most people that heard them slowly insane.

"...And so five days was added" he said the last words more clearly than the others before he became completely silent. He just stood there in the middle of his cell not moving a muscle. A smile then spread over his face. A smile that belonged to a maniac. He then started to laugh a little. His laugh turned more and more hysterical until his laugh matched with his smile. He soon calmed down his laughing but his smile was still there.

The blindfold that covered his eyes then fell of from his face and landed by his naked feet. His eyes were not yellow like his little sisters but was instead a deep shade of green. He then stretched out his arms without trouble even with the restrains. The restrains then snapped and he could now move his arms freely. He walked to the only mattress in the room and picked up a journal. He rolled down the right sleeve of his straitjacket, showing his pale hand. He then bit into his index finger, making it bleed before he proceeded to write the journal with his own blood. As he finished writing healed the small wound almost immediately.

' **Two Campione will be born. One tomorrow and one soon after the starless night** ' It stood in big bold letters of blood inside the journal. He then proceeded to his muttering once again.

* * *

Used Authorities.

Dante.

 **The Warriors of Valhalla: Einherjar** \- This Authority makes Dante able to summon the Einherjar, warriors that died in battle and was brought to Valhalla. The drawback for this Authority is that they most be 'made' out of some kind of metal and their strength is depending on what metal was used as this will become their weapons and armor. The second drawback being that Dante can only create four of them while he is on a normal plane of existence. If he uses this for example in the Astral plane would he be able to summon many more. The side effect to this Authority is that for each one that disappears in some way will Dante become much hungrier.

 **Incantation:** Come to me my soldiers. Descend from the hall were true warriors feast and stand by my side. Forward to battle to destroy our enemies before returning to the great hall once more. Come to me, my Einherjar!

 **Knowledge of the Runes Origin -** With this Authority can Dante create several different kinds of runes. The runes can be made of either earth, fire, iron, steel, silver, bronze or wood and will have different effects depending on which one he's using . He can create how many he want to but it can only be used for one and a half hour each day. At the end of each day will he feel anguishing pain that will be worse the more he used it during the day.

 **Incantation:** I will accept pain in my search of answers. I will accept hanging outside the world in my search for knowledge. Now appear before me, the power of knowledge and I shall bear this pain.

 **Author's note.**

 **Please review and give tips or thoughts about the story. Also I'm wondering if I should start reading the light novel so please tell me if I should give it a try.**


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I do not own Campione or any of its characters. I only own my OC'c.

* * *

Chapter 2

Dante looked around himself as he had just fell asleep. He was currently standing on a floating boulder sized rock in the sky. He looked up and saw that there was clouds high over him. He then looked down and saw that there was far below him as well. As he looked around him could he see that there were more floating stones around him in different sizes. Some looked like they were forming a path before stopping abruptly, while others was floating in the air completely alone. But there was one certain stone path that caught his attention. This one was longer than all the other one's and he couldn't see the end of it.

"Well let's see what's at the end then." He said to himself as he walked up to the path's beginning. As he put his foot on the first platform could he hear it to crumble a little under his weight. But he just lifted his other foot and started walking down the path. He didn't care that every step he took cased the stones keeping him up in the air to crack before falling down behind him, making it impossible for him to turn around.

As he had walked the path for what felt like half an hour split the path into three separate paths. As he stood where the path split noticed he that the rock didn't crack or crumble. He looked down the three paths and could see that there was someone standing by each end. He tried to see who was standing by the end of each path but couldn't even make out if it was a he or a she.

He wanted to know what was at the end but he knew that he could only pick one. So he choose the one in the middle.

'I have always just went on a straight path, so why not continue.' As soon as he thought that thought stopped he as he put his foot on the path. Flowers of different kinds spurted out of the stone he had placed his foot on, but he didn't care about them as he remembered the last words his father had said to to him.

' _Dante, for the most of my life have I been a fool. I have been traveling around the world trying to fill up the void in my heart, never having a real path and just did things on a whim. The only time I don't regret is the time I spent with your mother. But even then wasn't the void completely filled and I started traveling again, taking you and Maria with me and leaving your mother in Italy.'_ He could hear the voice of his father telling him as he recalled the memory

' _What is it you are saying dad?'_ He could hear his own voice asking his dying father.

' _What I'm telling you is that you must find your own path. A path that you want to follow, a path that is clear to you and that you feel is right for you. Now go!'_

Dante stood there, now starting to notice the flowers that was now covering the stone he had his foot one. He kneeled down and picked up one of the flowers. It was a red Chrysanthemum. He took a sniff of the flower and could smell its sweet fragrance. He didn't know what he suddenly felt as he had smelt the flower. But it almost felt like he was at peace, like everything but this flower didn't matter. He suddenly felt his body start to move forward down the path of stone. But he didn't stop as he wanted to know what was causing this feeling.

But before he could walk much farther, felt he a powerful gust of wind blow over him, forcing him to cover his eyes. As he reopened them saw he a man stand just a couple of feet in front of him. He had long black hair with several highlights of blood red, blood red eyes and had tanned skin much like Ebony. His entire upper body was bare save for a golden necklace that only covered a little bit of his chest, showing of his well trained body. The only real piece of clothing being the white piece of cloth on his lower body that barely reached past his knees which reminded a lot of a kilt. Covering his well trained arms was several black and red scales unlike that of any reptile and his hand had claws far more deadly than that of any living creature. In other words, this man was not human. He was a god, or at least the remains of one as he had been slain by Dante.

Dante frowned as he saw the god standing in front of him, blocking the path. "What do you want?"

"I want you to use my power in the upcoming battle." he told his killer humbly. This shocked Dante a little as he had never seen the god ask him for a favor like that. He instantly stopped those thought as a sadistic grin filled with bloodlust spread over his face and he continued. "Just thinking about the chance to taste the blood of two gods is driving me crazy."

Dante sighed before responding to his request. "I'll think about it. As long as it won't interfere with Godou becoming a Campione I'm fine with it. But could you please tell me, where are we?" He asked with his arms stretched out to empathise his question.

"I don't know. I just came here to talk with you." He answered before looking around himself, noticing the never ending blue sky and clouds frowned he a little bit. "But I have to say, I don't like this place."

"Understandable." He responded as he understood why the man felt like that. He then remembered something as he looked down in his hand and saw the red herbal flower. "I have to get going."

But as he was about to walk past the man was he stopped by a scaly arm that ended in a deadly set of claws. "We don't have time. I can feel him, Melqart is near."

As he said that noticed Dante that the red of the man's scales and hair started to give of a red glow. He then heard the sound of something crumbling and looked down to see the stone keeping him up in the air being covered in a web of cracks. The stone then broke before he had any time to move, sending him falling through the air. He looked towards the end of the path and saw that the figure had turned around. He widened his eyes as he recognised the figure.

"Great steed that travels through the nine worlds. Come to me to trample my foes with the power of war, and let your mighty hofes crush all that oppose you!"

But as he finished the incantation noticed he that his Authority wasn't responding. He looked up at the man, sending a glare, knowing that he was responsible.

"You bastard!" He yelled as fell through the sky towards the clouds. But before he fell through them, he turned towards the person that was looking down at him from the end of the path. Their eyes meeting for a brief moment before Dante fell into the clouds.

Dante opened his eyes to see an unfamiliar ceiling over him. He sat up and looked around himself. He then remembered that he was back home in his mother's mansion and that he was currently in one of the guest rooms. He stood up from the bed and walked out the door. As he walked past the door into Lucretia's room knocked he on the door. "Wake up, mom. I'll make breakfast."

The only response he heard was a quiet mumbling, followed by a soft snoring. He made his way into the kitchen, grabbed a pan and made his way over to the stove. He turned it on and walked to the fridge, he grabbed a couple of eggs before walking back to the stove. He then proceeded to break the eggs into the pan. As he was cooking could he hear the steps of feet making their way towards the kitchen. As he turned around he saw Maria entering the kitchen. Her glasses was far down the bridge of her nose, balancing at the tip. She was dressed in the same clothes that she wore yesterday and her hair was unkempt.

"Good morning big brother. What's for breakfast?" She asked while suppressing a yawn. She walked over to the kitchen table like she was sleepwalking.

"I don't have much time, so I'm just making scrambled eggs." He informed his sister before walking over to the fridge to get some more eggs. As he returned to the stove he started to count down. "3…2…1…"

As he was about to say zero was a loud bang heard throughout the building. Like somebody had been hit hard enough to be sent into a wall. He left the stove and walked out of the kitchen. He walked up towards Godou and Erica's room.

"I will accept pain in my search of answers. I will accept hanging outside the world in my search for knowledge. Now appear before me, the power of knowledge and I shall bear this pain." He chanted as he got closer to the door, preparing for the the battle that was soon here. A lone silver rune formed in the palm of his hand before turning into liquid and covered the entire palm of his hand like a second layer of skin. He walked up to the door and heard Erica say something about 'unladylike image'. Dante took a firm grip around the doorknob and pulled.

But as his strength was currently boosted by the rune he had made earlier, he accidently pulled out the door of its frame with the hinges still attached. He put the door to the side and looked inside the room. Sitting at the floor was Godou with a bruise on his right cheek. He was dressed in the same clothes as yesterday. Erica was standing in front of Godou, wrapped in a blanket and could only see her leggings. He looked down at the floor and saw the red dress that she had worn yesterday.

They were both staring at him with wide eyes. Not surprising as Erica had just punched Godou for touching and seeing her body, before Dante had pulled out the locked door like it was an everyday task.

"D-Dante!? How did you do that?" Godou asked flabbergasted by what Dante had done. But Erica was the one that answered.

"That would have to be one of your Authority's. Am I correct?"

"You are completely right Erica, but we don't have time with that. Right now we have to-"

But before he was able to finish started the ground to shake and the world changed color. It had even began to rain. Even if it was cloudy outside it had come way too suddenly to be normal.

"Well looks like we don't have anymore time. Get prepared, I'll be meeting you outside." He announced before walking out of the room. Erica quickly started getting ready before walking out of the room with Godou following.

As they got outside could they see Dante stand there in the rain with his arms crossed. He was currently staring into the fog. "Looks like he's finally here."

As he said that noticed both Godou and Erica the huge shadow walking towards them. Each step it took causing the earth to shake. As the shadowy figure stepped out of the fog could they see a huge man with a purple grayish skin and a very muscular appearance. He had a long white beard with a mustache and was dressed in some kind of armor that looked like it was made of rock and on his head was a crown that looked like it was made of the same material. Just his mere presence screamed power.

"Please wait, god!" Erica called after the huge god, trying to get it's attention. It seemed to work as the towering giant turned half of its body towards them.

"How arrogant must you be, child of man, to stop a god's advance?" The giant asked the blonde woman with its booming voice echoing far into the distance.

"Please forgive my disrespect. From what I can tell, you are the king of gods the Phoenicians worshiped long ago, Melqart-sama."

This seemed to interest Melqart as he turned more towards the woman that had spoke. "So there are still praiseworthy individuals who know the name of the ancient kings." He turned completely around, showing the entire front of his body. "I am Melqart, the king once known throughout this island… No, throughout these entire waters!"

As he was done announcing himself shoot a bolt of lightning down from the clouds towards him. Melqart just raised one of his giant arms in the lightning bolts path, blocking it with ease.

"Lightning?" Godou asked as he was a bit shocked that there was suddenly lightning shooting down from the sky.

"It rarely rains on Sardinia." Erica told Godou as she looked up at the sky a bit unnerved. A second lightning bolt lighted up the gray sky. Dante could feel his Authority's shift within him. It felt as if they were excited to battle the gods but was at the same time a bit uneasy. Except one.

"As always, you are adept at changing your form." The Mediterranean King said while looking far off into the distance. He then started moving forward. "I must hurry."

As the giant god continued his advance changed Erica into her battle outfit, the red dress disappearing. She turned around to face Godou, looking sternly into his eyes. "You stay here."

"Wait… What are you doing?"

"She's going to halt the god's battle." Dante answered before Erica got to say something.

"He's right. Melqart is one of the strongest Mediterranean gods. If we don't do something about their fighting, then this island will perish." She informed the black haired teen as she turned her gaze towards where Melqart was walking, his colossus size making him easy to see even from this distance.

"But how are you going to do that?"

"I can't do it on my own. So I'm going to need your help, Lord Dante." She said as she turned to look at the boy she had spoken of. The young King thought about it for a short bit before replying.

"Sure, but on one condition." He said as he pulled up one finger to emphasize his point.

"And what's that?" She asked a little bit nervous about what his condition would be. Whatever it was she would have to obey as it was more of a order than a condition.

"I will not be transported in that death machine you call a car, especially with Arianna driving." He answered his condition before walking towards the stone railing at the other side of the road, looking towards Melqart. "And Godou will come with us."

"What, why?" Erica asked Dante, a little bit unsure why he would bring a normal human into this. Dante didn't answer, but just gave her a sideways glance, his eye shining the same blue as it had done yesterday. She suddenly saw different visions play up before her very eyes. In some she saw her old 'friend' Liliana standing by her side as they fought together. In others she was having a discussion with a brown haired girl her age. And in one she was fighting a black haired girl with red eyes who was wielding a black sword. But all of them had something in common. Godou was in each one of them. But he was a bit different than he was now. But before she could place her finger on what it was, she was back in the rain.

"What in the world was that?" Erica whispered to herself, not fully understanding what she had just seen. They had all felt so real, but at the same time she knew that they couldn't be real. After all she didn't even know two of the people she had seen in the visions.

"That is the possibility that is within Godou's grasp. But it will only be possible if he wants to take this path!" he explained as he felt the irony that he was talking about someone's path. He turned towards Godou. "Now tell me Godou, do you want to take it?"

Godou was taken aback by the boy's question, but knew what he meant. Do you wanna become a Campione or do you wanna continue your normal life as a human. But Godou knew that even if he choose to return to his normal life, it wouldn't feel quite normal. But becoming a Campione, he wasn't really sure about that either. He then remembered what Dante had shown him yesterday. It felt as if even if Dante hadn't been here it would still be the same outcome. His gaze hardened as he had decided. "Yes." he responded, his resolve firm.

Dante smiled before he started chanting. "Great steed that travels through the nine worlds. Come to me to trample my foes with the power of war, and let your mighty hofes crush all that oppose you!"

As he finished the incantation, dispersed the clouds over him as a beam of purple light shoot down from above them. The light stroke down into the ground right in front of him, blinding everybody except him. As the bright light disappeared they could see what Dante had summoned.

There standing right in front of Dante letting it's head get stroked was a gray furred horse with eight powerful legs. It's mane and tail was more of a silver color than the gray that covered its entire body. Strapped to its back was a black leather saddle. It opened its eyes and turned to look at Godou and Erica with a judging gaze.

"What is that?"

"That is the eight legged horse of Norse mythology, Sleipnir." Erica explained as she looked at the majestic horse standing in front of her. "He's one the main symbols for the Nordic god of war and poetry, Odin."

"Which is why I don't like to use him to often. He sticks out too much" Dante said as he took a grip around the horse's reins and proceeded to climb up the horse's back. "With the Einherjer there is at least a small chance that they may think that it was Freya that I slew. And most Nordic gods have some kind of connection with runes."

"I get what you mean." replied the blonde woman at his explanation. "By making sure that no one knows which god it is you have killed you're putting yourself at a strategic advantage, as they won't be able to figure out your Authorities."

"That right." he replied to Erica's explanation before turning Sleipnir around so he was facing towards the Mediterranean King. "But right now we need to get there as fast as possible."

"Well that shouldn't be too hard with that horse." Godou said as if he thought he had stated the obvious. But Erica shacked her head.

"There has only been two beings recorded that can ride on his back, gods and the spirits of warriors that died in battle." she explained to the black haired boy. "If you and I tried to ride him we would most likely get ourselves killed."

Godou looked at the blonde haired beauty a bit unnerved by the information. But his expression soon changed back to the serious one he had just a moment ago. "We have to get there somehow. I don't care how, just we get there."

A short bit later after he said that was he sitting in the front seat of Arianna's car with her driving. Erica was sitting at the top of the car, while Dante was riding his horse besides them.

While Sleipnir might have eight legs it didn't hinder it at all. All of it's legs was working in complete harmony with each other. But at the same time it did it best to not run past the car as it was keeping a rather uncomfortable speed.

"Just so you know I won't save you no matter what happens. This is your chance to run." she called to Godou.

"I know that." he responded. He looked down at the stone tablet that he had brought with him. The tablet that had started it all. As he looked at the depiction of Prometheus he was reminded of what Lucretia had told him yesterday.

" _That's right… The trickster who deceived the gods. And the hero who gave humans knowledge and flame… Prometheus. That power lies within."_

'The power to steal a god's Authority, their abilities, their powers and use it as your own.' He thought as he looked towards Dante. 'The same kind of powers that Dante have used this entire time.'

"Look!" he was cut out from his thought as Erica called out to them. He looked out the window, just to see a huge shadow of a bird a couple of meters in front of them. It was always moving so that it always was a couple of meters in front of them. Godou looked up but couldn't see anything that could cause that kind of shadow.

"There's nothing there." he said shocked by this revelation.

"It's a divine beast, the Bird of Prey. It's here to join into a single form again." she informed before looking up in front of her. There in front of them was Melqart who was now holding two clubs, one formed in a zigzag pattern representing a lightning bolt and the other had many bumps forming it like a gale of wind. But there was also another god present. He was a young boy, no more than 15 in age. He was dressed in a long sleeved white toga that covered his entire body and a dark blue robe that was drifting in the air behind him. His hair was a darker shade of blue than his robe and his green eyes was filled with battle lust. The only thing telling one that he was a god was the fact that he was floating in the air like it was something casual.

"It's been a while, Melqart." the young looking god said to the bearded god like they were old friends.

"I've been waiting…"

""Verethragna."" both Melqart and Godou said in unison. Shocking Erica.

"You know him?"

"The ancient Persian god of war and god of light." he told her, showing that he knew who it was. "A tempest, a bull, a white horse, a camel, a boar, an adolescent, a bird of prey, a ram, a goat. And the warrior who holds the Golden Sword. The one who contains all ten avatars: the invincible god of war, the Victor: Verethragna."

"It seems you know your stuff." Dante commented after hearing him talking about the Persian god. He had to say that he to was a bit shocked by the younger boy's knowledge. But he also knew that his mother had probably talked with him about this yesterday. Godou nodded before looking down at the grimoire.

'With this it will become a reality.' he thought as he was reminded of the vision that Dante had showed him yesterday. He didn't know why, but every time he thought about it felt he his heart beat faster and he actually felt a bit excited. He stopped thinking about as soon as he saw Erica jump of the roof of the car towards the battle ready gods.

"Erica!" he shouted, trying to get the blond woman's attention. But either she didn't hear him or just didn't care as she continued forward.

"Cuore di Leone!" she called out and the sword understood its master's orders as it was enveloped in a red light before transforming into a red shield with a black cross shaped mark in the middle.

Meanwhile was the two gods talking with each other, neither of them showing a sign of going on the offensive.

"It seems the wound you gave me the last time we battled has yet to heal." Verethragna said to the much bigger god like it was just a small annoyance and not something hindering.

"You have revived me out of your conceited desire to fight, to see who is strongest. I cannot let your wound let me overlook this fact." Melqart responded sounding angrier by the second.

"I look forward to it." the god of war responded with a taunting smile. He then lifted his right arm, pointing towards the sky. A small tornado formed around him and down from the sky came two of his avatars: the Goat and the Bird of Prey. Both of them formed into blue flames before they merged with their master, making the tornado dissipate. "Now, only one avatar remains."

Melqart lifted his right arm holding the wind formed club, ready to be the first one to strike. But before he could move his arm forward was he interrupted as a magic circle formed between him and Verethragna. They both looked down at the one that had dared to interrupt a fight between gods. The Persian god recognised the blond knight holding a shield. "That witch, huh?"

"I'm afraid you must lay down your arms!" she tried to order them. But it didn't seem to work as Melqart just looked down at her like she was a little bug.

"Right now, this land is a battlefield on which we shall determine who is dominant. Give up, human." the King of gods ordered Erica a bit pissed that she dared to speak to him like that.

"God, please have mercy!" she tried to argue with the god even if she knew it was futile.

"Witch, I applaud your spirit, which tries to oppose the gods." Verethragna praised the girl. Several bolts of lightning started to strike down from the sky as he was preparing his power. "However you should know your place."

As he said that stroke a bolt of lightning the place she had just been standing on before she had jumped back. She wasn't given any time to rest as he sent another one towards where she had landed, forcing her to jump again. She did this three more times before she was hit by a lightning while in the air. Lucky for her that she had already raised her shield, blocking the attack but forcing it out from her grip. It embedded itself into the ground not to far away from where she landed, but was out of her reach. She looked up at Verethragna as he fired another bolt towards her. But was saved as Godou jumped forward and grabbed her, sending them through the air before Godou used his body to shield Erica as he landed. He straightened himself to see if she was alright.

"Godou…" she said shocked that he had just put himself in danger to save her. She also noticed the distinct sound of hoofs as Dante got closer.

Verethragna looked at the two new arrivals. One of them was the boy that he had given the White Stallion to entertain him and the other was… a god slayer. He couldn't believe how lucky he was to be able to fight that many opponents.

"It's good that you're alright." Dante said as he got close to Erica, still on the back of Sleipnir. "This is enough."

As he said that disappeared the godly horse in a flash of purple like the one it had appeared from. As he landed on the ground started he walk forward towards the two gods, with determined steps. He knew what he needed to do. 'I told you I might use it.'

"What I seek is vengence. The flames of rage shall light inside me and the gods will fear me once more, for before me their rules mean nothing. And even if I have to tear down the heavens to get my revenge I won't back down. Now, you shall all fear me!"

All of them noticed the change as he started radiating a powerful aura of bloodthirst and anger. His expression was still the same, but his eyes was filled with an never ending hatred. Godou and Erica was both terrified at what they saw in front of them. They had never seen Dante or anyone for that matter this angry before in their entire life. Even Verethragna and Melqart was frozen in place for a little while before snapping out of it.

"What was that…" Melqart asked himself as he regained his senses. He might be one of the strongest Mediterranean gods but he knows what fear is even if he hasn't experienced it. The same goes for Verethragna, as he was known as the invincible war god he had never felt fear himself but heard of it.

"This is… really interesting!" the god of war shouted out as he raised his hand into the air. Golden spark of lightning appeared just above his fingers, before forming a curved golden sword, that was even bigger than the boy himself.

He readied himself to fly towards the Campione in front of him but before he was even able to move from his position was Dante already in front of him, sending a punch towards his face. Verethragna quickly raised his sword, blocking the attack with the flat of the sword and supported it with both hands. As Dante's fist made contact with the golden sword flew a small cloud of black flames forth from where they had connected.

Verethragna pushed away Dante, putting some distance between the two and giving him a clear look of the boy. He looked like your average human in the eyes of a god except for the bloodlust he was emitting and the black flames that covered his entire lower arms.

As Dante stopped flying through the air hovered he for a bit before flying towards the god a second time. This time was Verethragna prepared and noticed that he wasn't going as fast as before. He to started closing the distance between him and the boy, readying his sword a second time. As he was within range with his sword he instantly swung it towards the boy's head. Dante didn't seem to react as the god swung as his eyes never looked towards the blade even for a second. The golden sword cleaved right through the boy's head as it made contact, no resistance whatsoever.

But as soon as Verethragna had cleaved the head disappeared the boys body, leaving no trace behind it. Dante reappeared right in front of the Persian god, his leg pulled back with his knee in the same height as the god's face.

"Wha-" but before the god of war could say anymore was he cut off as Dante's knee hit his face, sending him back a bit. Verethragna smiled a little at how the battle was progressing. This boy, this god slayer had him against the ropes in less than a minute. "But even so, there is no way I'm going to lose here."

While he may be known for taking different forms for different situations. it didn't mean he couldn't use another's power when using another.

"Fear me for I have wings." as he those words left his lips felt he as the power of the Bird of Prey fill his body. He didn't waste any time as he instantly closed the distance between him and the Campione with its speed.

As he got close to Dante swung he his sword with the same speed as he was moving with, catching him of guard. Dante couldn't react fast enough to block the attack properly as it had all happened in less than 2 seconds. He had just enough time to barely raise his arm to block. But directly after had Verethragna pulled back and went for an overhead slash.

More ready this time, pulled Dante up both of his arms to block the attack. But just like last time pulled the god of war back the blade before sending it towards his midsection. This time he caught the blade by using both his knee and arm stopping it in its tracks.

Verethragna was staring in disbelief at the feat. This god slayer had stopped his Golden sword, which could cut through divinity while being boosted by the Bird of Prey that granted him godspeed. He didn't think much more as Dante's right fist made contact with his cheek, making him let go of the sword and stagger backwards.

"You're good, god slayer. What's your name?" the Persian god of war asked, wanting to know the name of the one he was battling.

The aura of bloodlust and the anger in Dante's eyes weakened a little before he answered the god. "Dante. Dante Zola."

"Well then, Dante Zola. Enjoy the fact that you're the only one here to make me go all out!"

As he said that disappeared the Golden sword that Dante still had in his grip, before appearing in the hands of it's owner.

"Hear my call warriors, for I will bring you Victory. Call to me warriors for I am Verethragna!" as he spoke those words activated all of the Authority's he had with him at the moment. Both the Ram and the Camel healing all the wounds that Dante had inflicted on him and the old wound from his encounter with Melqart almost instantly. He covered the distance with his godspeed once more and swung the sword as fast as he moved.

Dante had gotten used to the speed the god of war was able to move at, but was surprised by the raw power behind the slash. While it wouldn't be able to cut of his arm as long as it was covered by the flames he could still feel pain. Verethragna pushed and he was sent flying back, but unlike the other times had the god of Victory this time decided to send him towards the ground. And with the boosted strength the Bull gave him it was relatively easy seeing as he had already made a hole right in front of Godou and Erica.

"Hey Dante. Are you alright?" Godou asked as he was about to run over to his friend but stopped as several bolt of lightning stroke down into the hole. Dante was able to fight back the lightning but could fell his Authority weakening. The assault of lightning soon ended giving Dante some time to breath.

"Yeah… I'm… alright." He said between pants trying to reassure the dark haired teen. The aura of bloodlust much weaker than it had been before and his eyes almost devoid of malice. The black flames on his arms almost completely gone. He looked at the concerned teens face, before standing up. 'It's now or never.'

"Tell me Godou, are you ready to become a King, one that rules over the world and all living. Are you ready to become one that has usurped the powers of a god and become a Campione. Now tell me your answer."

Godou was taken aback by how the purple eyed King had spoken. Even now beaten and battered he still had power behind his words. Godou didn't need to think about an answer as he had already decided what it was. "Yes."

Dante smiled before standing up. "Humans and Gods alike will fear me, for I bring forth the end. All that oppose me will learn of my wrath, as I will kill all that dares to stand in my way. Mortal or Immortal, before me you will all die."

The small embers of black flames around his arms appeared to regain their strength as they became flames once more. But this time instead of just covering just his lower arms, they spread across his entire arms and done his back, making a cap. He stretched out his right arm to the side and in it landed the handle of a wood case. Moving with movements of familiarity opened he the box. Inside it was his main weapon: a gun. It was a Thompson Contender. He picked it up and two of the bullets that also was inside the case. He closed the case and placed it on the ground.

Pulling a switch like compartment just under the trigger, causing the barrel and frame of the gun to separate and he pushed the bullet into the chamber. As he pulled up the gun, he let the barrels momentum and weight close it.

"Are you ready, Verethragna?" Dante asked the god as he was once more in the air. He hadn't pulled back the hammer of the gun yet, meaning that it wasn't ready to fire, but he kept his thumb on it so that he was ready for action.

Verethragna just looked at the gun skeptical as he had seen Dante move faster than any bullet. A smile spread over his face as he knew that Dante would once again surprise him somehow. "Yes! Now god slayer... no, Dante give me everything you got!"

Dante lifted gun and aimed it right for the gods chest, where the heart is normally placed. He pulled back the hammer, ready to shoot. "All Father. Prisoned. King. War, Storms and Lightning." He could feel the bullet react as he feed it Words of Power. "The god that you seek is Verethragna, the Persian god of war and light. The one that brings Victory as well as embodying it."

The bullet knew what it was supposed to do. All that was needed was that Dante pulled the trigger. "Feed yourself with his power and swallow your target."

With those words pulled he the trigger, sending the bullet towards its selected target. It was moving faster than any other bullet but could easily be dodged with godspeed.

But Verethragna didn't bother to dodge as he wanted to take it head on. Not out of arrogance or show of supremacy, but because he wanted to match his power with Dante's. He swung his sword with his boosted speed and strength, intending to cleave the bullet in half.

But as soon as the edge of his blade made contact with the bullet stopped his slash. The bullet had not been cleaved upon impact with the sharp edge of the Golden sword. Infact it was still spinning and was pushing against Verethragna's sword. A smile spread over the god of Victory's face as he noticed this. But at the same time felt he all of his Authorities except the Warrior quickly weakening.

"This is interesting, Dante!" he shouted happily. He turned his sword making the bullet go of course. Instead of hitting his chest, it flew right into his left shoulder and exited at the other side. He felt as the Goat, Bird of Prey and Boar's power left him. He held his sword in his right hand and was still smiling. The wound was already healing by the Camels and Rams power, but not as fast as before as both of them had been weakened.

During the time he had blocked the bullet had Dante reloaded his gun and was currently chanting a second time. "All Father. Prisoned. King. War, Storms and Lightning."

He fired the second bullet aiming it at Verethragna's other shoulder. Once again brought the Persian god up his sword to block the attack. Once again felt he as they made contact that his power was weakening. He felt himself being pushed back and took up his other arm to support his sword. He pushed forward letting out a wordless battle cry as he cleaved the bullet on the middle, sending one half into the distance and the other right into his chest. This time wasn't it able to fly through his body and was instead stuck inside him. His Authority's had weakened but were still active.

"Godou, now!"

As Verethragna heard the command, looked he down and saw the warrior he had meet yesterday aiming the stone tablet towards him. He was letting out a wordless battle cry much like he himself had done just a moment ago.

Godou felt the power residing inside the Book of Prometheus answer to his will. But as he did felt he something inside him break. Not like a bone, but his spirit. He remembered what Erica told him as he had said he was going to use it. That if a human used it their body would break down and kill them. He didn't care about it as he kept pushing.

A horse made out of white flames shoot out of the stone tablet, followed by a stream of flames it flew towards its master. He wasn't able to dodge and was therefore engulfed in its flames.

Godou felt more of his body break as he pushed the White Stallion out of Prometheus' Book, not leaving a ounce of it's power inside. As it had completely exited the stone tablet was he sent flying back by the recoil and landed hard on the ground.

"Godou!" Erica called out worried for the boy and ran over to him.

"I cannot lose to my own avatar!" Verethragna proclaimed, his entire body still engulfed in flames from the White Stallion. He had used up the Ram to survive that attack and was on his last leg but wasn't giving up. All he needed to do was let the Camel heal his wounds-

Wait.

The Camel, it was gone. The god of war looked down and saw the smile that was over Godou's face.

"I stole it. I stole what has been keeping him alive this entire time. I stole the Camel." He told Erica as she got close to him.

"So that was what you were aiming for this entire time."

"Yeah, kind of." he responded as he let the power of the Camel fill his body, halting his body from breaking down. He then focused all the strength in his legs and jumped towards Verethragna. The god didn't have anytime to react before Godou was right in front of him and sent and reinforced kick to his chest, exactly over where the bullet wound had been located. The dark haired teen sent the god flying back as he used him as a springboard to get back to the ground. As soon as he landed felt he the Camel leave him and his body started breaking once more.

"Damn, I didn't get him." he cursed as he saw the god was now aiming for them, seeing as Dante wouldn't interfere took he the chance to advance on them. He then smiled as the Book of Prometheus did it's job. Before Verethragna could get to close started his sword disappear and was soon completely gone. "This is what I aimed for .The Golden Sword, is mine."

"This was your true goal?" Erica asked, shocked that he had planned out everything. She could feel her heart start to beat faster in her chest as she looked at the young man in front of her.

"It can kill him, right?" he asked as he felt that if he didn't do something soon he himself would die. "What do I do? What should I do?"

Erica knew what was needed and felt her face heat up. She looked deep into his eyes and without warning walked closer to Godou and lifted both her hand and caressed his face. Godou blushed at the sudden contact but didn't move away. She closed her eyes as she closed the distance between their faces, causing her soft lips to be pressed against Godou's. He instantly felt the rush of magical energy as the Warrior entered his body from the Grimoire. Both of their bodies was enveloped in a golden light that formed a dome around them.

Then in a golden flash of light, changed the world around them. The ground under their feet turned golden in color, the clouded sky became a clear night sky and thousands of golden swords pointed up from the ground. These swords then started went up from the ground and started floating in the air before all of them turned their sharp points towards the god of war.

Godou who was still kissing Erica, stared in wonder as the swords was reacting to his will. With a push of his mind flew one of the sword forward, impaling Verethragna right through his chest. The Persian god looked down at the sword that had impaled with look of both wonder and shock. The flames that was still around his body quickly grew in strength, making them fly around wildly around him.

Erica broke the kiss and looked up at the burning god, while having his right arm around her shoulders to support him. Godou smiled as he saw what he had accomplished, in his left hand was the Golden Sword that Verethragna had held before. The golden world broke down and they were back in the rain. He looked towards Erica before asking. "What was that for?"

Erica looked up at him giving him a sincere smile as answered. "I gave you the key to unlock the Golden Sword through that kiss. Because of that was you able to use the sword and strike Verethragna with the finishing blow."

As the god heard his name looked he up from where he struck and smiled at the human that had defeated him. "Splendid, warrior. Now take my powers and use them as your own."

He paused a bit and looked up towards Dante that was still in the air looking down at them, He then returned his attention towards his slayer and stretched out a hand towards him. "You are a god slayer that has taken the god of victory's Authority. Remain stronger than any other! Remain undefeated until the day we fight again!"

That was his last words before he had completely turned into ash and was replaced by the teen disks that Godou had seen the day before. They then floated over to him and before he blacked out felt he as they pushed into his body. Erica noticed that he was unconscious as she felt him slump forward and would have fell forward if she hadn't been supporting him.

She looked over to Dante as she heard him land not to far away from where she and Godou was standing. The black flames that had covered his body before was completely gone, not a spark being left of them. He started walking towards them, but stopped as the giant behind him moved. The ground shaking with each movement .

"Where are you going, god slayer?" Melqart asked, his booming voice echoing in the distance. "Isn't it in your nature to fight every god you come across?"

"There are some exceptions." he said bluntly as he turned around and walked over to the unconscious boy. "I may not be one of them, but I don't feel the need to fight."

Melqart just looked down at the blond boy before letting out a booming laughter. "Your an interesting one, you know that?" He stopped laughing before continuing. "But I think you should battle me if you don't want this island to sink."

This confused both Dante and Erica as they looked at the god with confused faces. They stood there silent trying to process what the god had stated just now. After almost teen seconds of silence was Dante the one that ended it as he asked. "What do you mean?"

"The way the humans have been treating the Mediterranean sea, my domain is unacceptable. So I will kill all of them by sinking this island. Before continuing to all my ancient territories." Melqart told the two of them like it was the obvious conclusion to make sure that the sea wouldn't be treated in that manner.

"But isn't there any other way?" Erica tried to argue with him. Melqart just shook his head slightly before continuing.

"The only thing I care about is the sea, and if I take away what is hurting it permanently then I can make sure that it won't feel pain any longer. Because these waters is my sacred domain, it is only fitting that I bring them divine punishment." anger was noticeable in his voice as he spoke. He then continued, this time sounding much calmer. "If you want to make sure that I don't sink this island you will have to face me, god slayer."

Dante frowned at Melqart's last statement. He had two choices. Either he run away from the island, putting his mother and several others lives at risk, or he could fight him and try to minimize the damage as much as possible while making sure that the island wouldn't sink.

He looked back towards Erica and Godou, his eyes setting on the soon to be god slayer. As he looked at him, he got an idea.

"Alright Melqart, I'll fight you. But I will not fight alone." he stated before pointing a finger towards the unconscious Godou. "He will fight with me!"

Melqart just looked at Dante, his expression unchanging. "Do you take me for a fool. I may not doubt my strength, even I know that fighting two Devil Kings is suicide."

"Oh… Are you scared?" Dante asked the giant god with a taunting smile on his face. "The great Melqart, king of the Mediterranean sea and ruler over lightning and storms are afraid of two god slayers. Even when knowing that one of them isn't even born yet."

Dante knew where to aim when confronting a god like Melqart, their pride. All gods took pride in almost all their actions, but a god of the Divine King Class was often some of the most prideful. And just like Dante had hoped for seemed it to work as he saw Melqart tense. But then he suddenly started laughing.

"You really are an interesting one, god slayer. So you believe that I would be able to fight both of you and still hold my ground?"

"That is something we will have to find out won't we." he answered Melqart with a smile still on his lips. But this one wasn't taunting like the last one, but a genuine smile. "But even if only one of us would battle you, would the other one most likely fight you directly afterwards to make sure that you didn't sink anything."

Melqart thought about what he said. Either he could take them both on at the same time or have them taking him on one after the other. He didn't like the odds that was against him in whichever he picked.

"Very well, I shall take on the both of you. We shall meet here again, tomorrow at the time of twilight."

Then in a flash of lightning was the the giant god gone, not a trace indicating that he was ever here to begin with. Dante stared at the empty space where Melqart had just stood. Wondering how something that big could disappear so quickly and why he didn't use it to get here to begin with.

"What are you going to do now, Dante?" Erica asked the blonde brown haired boy as he walked towards her. He took under Godou's free arm as he helped her carry him back to the car.

"I'm going to train him. We're going to need it if we want to win against Melqart." he answered as they got closer to the car. Waiting there patiently was Arianna, she waved at them as she saw them walk towards her.

They put Godou in the backseat and Erica sat besides him. As Arianna was about to sit down at the driver's seat spoke Dante up. "I'll be the one driving us back home you can take it easy Arianna."

The black haired maid looked at him puzzled before doing as he said and walked over to the front passenger seat. Dante sat down in the car and started it. He then turned the car around and started driving home. It was mostly quiet in the car as Erica was looking at Godou and Arianna was just looking forward, wondering why Dante wanted to drive the car. Dante looked at Erica's worried expression through the mirror.

"Don't worry, he will recover. When Campione's are born are all our wounds are healed not matter how severe. Compared to what happened with me when I fought my first god it doesn't look as bad."

"What happened to you then when you faced your first god?" surprisingly it wasn't Erica that asked but Arianna. She had taken her eyes of the road and was now staring at the brown blonde Campione.

"I had most of my body blown into smithereens." he told her bluntly, his eyes returning to the road. "I may not feel any pain from it, but it still haunts me to this day."

"Oh, I am very sorry for bringing it up." she apologized with small bow.

"No, don't worry about it. After all if that wouldn't had happened I wouldn't be here today with all of you."

The rest of their ride back to Lucretia's house was quiet as no one wanted to break the comfortable silence, especially now when Arianna wasn't the one driving. The sun had even started to let down it warming rays as the clouds parted before they got back.

* * *

Used Authorities.

Dante.

 **Sleipnir: The Eight Legged Stead** \- This is Dante's fourth and last Authority that he got from the war god Odin. With this can he summon Sleipnir, the eight legged horse. He can only be summoned normally once each day and Dante needs to wait for 24 hours before he can summon him with the incantation again. But he will summon himself automatically if it is to block an attack and will always hit with the same amount of power before slowly gaining strength himself. Sleipnir dosen't travel at godspeed but can travel just as fast as he is capable of reaching mach 15. The difference being that he will be affected by wind resistance.

 **Incantation:** Great steed that travels through the nine worlds. Come to me to trample my foes with the of war, and let your mighty hofes crush all that oppose you!

 **Author's note.**

 **I won't be going into any details about the other Authority he used and will let you theories about it.**

 **Please review and give tips or thought about the story.**

 **Also I might post a poll asking if Godou should get one Melqarts Authorities or not.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Authors note: This chapter will not be as long as the two previous ones. Also I have posted a voting poll that will have a big part in how the story progresses, so please vote if you want to.**

 **Also I would want to thank Crimson Dragon Emperor for letting me use one of the Authorities that he have created. I don't own this except partially the effects of them.**

 **And please review and give tips.**

 **Ask questions if you have any.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Campione or any of its characters. I only own my OC's.**

* * *

Chapter 3

Godou was lying down at the ground of a world where everything was either gray or white and was slowly gaining conscience. He could hear the voice of a woman as he was regaining his senses.

"The black art that Epimetheus and I left… The sacred birth of an illegitimate child, shrouded in darkness, born of a fool and a witch. A secret rite of usurpation, only possible through the death of a god."

Godou cracked one of his eyes open and saw a young girl around her mid teens with long violet hair that was tied into twin tails with two white bows and had green eyes. She also appeared to have pointy ears like those of a elf with red ear rings in both of them and was dressed in a white dress with the sleeves going down her arms.

"In short, all conditions have been met. A gift from the heavens." the violet haired girl said, not moving from her position. Godou was just confused at her words as he didn't knew she meant.

"What are you talking about?" he asked the girl.

"Well, to put it simply, you sacrificed your life in order to slay Verethragna and succeeded. Even if Dante was the one that dealt the most damage, was you the one to deal the finishing blow." she answered as she straightened her back.

"I killed him…" he said more to himself than the violet girl. "Who are you?"

She looked down at him as he asked the question. "The all-giving woman, Pandora." She once again leaned over him her arms beside him to keep herself up. "You will be reborn as a Campione. The God Slayer, the King of Kings, the Campione."

Then in a flash of white disappeared the girl and he woke up, not remembering anything about the conversation with Pandora. He looked around himself, noticing that it was the same room that he had been in with Erica before the fight with Verethragna, except that he was currently in the bed instead of on the floor. He heard the sound of a screwdriver not to far away from where he was lying. He sat up and felt his back pop as he stretched his back, he looked over at the source of the noise and saw Dante fixing the door that he had pulled out of the wall before. As he looked over was he almost done as he only needed to put the door back in place.

Dante turned around to see how the other boy was doing, only to see that he was already awake. "Hey, how are feeling?"

"Good, just a little stiff." he answered the older boy. "For how long was I unconscious?" he asked as he was unsure about how long he had been out.

"Just a couple of hours. It just about early evening right now." he answered as he turned his attention back to the door and appreciated his handiwork. Godou then remembered all that had happened earlier. The battle between Dante and Verethragna, him using the White Stallion and the Camel. Erica kissing him, that golden world and Verethragnas last words. A small smile spread over his lips as these thoughts entered his mind.

"So I'm a Campione now, huh." he said as he understood what had happened. He rolled his shoulder a bit but it felt completely fine. "I don't feel much different from when I was a normal human honestly, except that my shoulder is completely healed."

"Oh, right your shoulder was hurt. So are you going to go back to baseball?" he asked as he remembered when Godou had talked about his time as a baseball player before he injured his shoulder.

Godou thought about it before he shook his head. "No, I don't think that would be fair."

Dante understood what he meant as he himself was a Campione. Not only had they full immunity to mortal magic and much tougher bodies. All of their senses as well as their reflexes and strength was also given a significant boost.

"I guess you're right. You would probably be able to hit a homerun with out even trying and that would just lead to a lot of confusion." he scratched the back of his head. "Well we don't have anymore time to goof around. Go down and eat. I'll be waiting outside."

"Huh? What do you mean?" he tried to ask the older boy, but he didn't answer and just walked away. Godou let out a frustrated sigh before standing up and went down to the kitchen. As he reached the living room could he see most of the house current residents. Erica was currently playing a game of chess against Maria, clearly at a disadvantage as most of her pieces was gone, while Maria had only lost three. All of them pawns. Arianna was of course rooting for Erica, while Lucretia was just sitting quietly in one of the chairs. They were all dressed in the same clothes as they had yesterday.

"Hello Godou." the only real adult in the building greeted him as he walked down the stairs. Godou walked up besides her as Erica moved her last bishop forward, only to be taken by one of Maria's rooks.

"What are they doing?"

"It's called chess." she said, stating the obvious. She looked up at him with a smile. Only to meet his unamused look.

"I know what it is. I am just wondering why." he retorted, seeing as Lucretia was just teasing with him let he out another sigh.

"I was bored while you were still recovering from the battle and your change into a Campione. Congratulations by the way." she then moved her queen piece and proclaimed victory with a smile on her lips. "Checkmate."

"I have to hand it to you. You beat me." Erica praised the younger girl. "But don't you think using your Authority is kinda like cheating."

Maria pushed up her glasses, that had been very far down the bridge of her nose during the entire game. "So you noticed."

"Of course I noticed. Everytime you're looking over your glasses are you getting more sure of yourself and was able to see my every move before I even made them."

This confused Godou. After all Authorities was powers of a god or Campione. Then that would mean.

"You're also a Campione!?" he asked Maria, shocked by the revelation. He was confused even further as Maria shook her head.

"No. I'm a half Campione. While I have the power of a god wouldn't I be able to use it without my spirit breaking down and get myself killed." she explained for Godou. He seemed to understand as his expression changed from one of confusion to look of pity. "Don't give me that look. Even if I'm in constant danger of dying as my power is always active am I safe as long as I wear these glasses or my sleeping mask."

Godou was quite after her explanation. He couldn't understand how a girl that always knew that she might be dead the next second could smile such a honest smile. But at same time felt he like she knew she would be safe as long she had her glasses. A question then popped up in his mind.

"What would you do if lost your glasses?" he asked as he remembered that Maria had lost her glasses the first time they meet Verethragna.

"I would simply keep my eyes closed untill I get them back or get them replaced." she answered his question and walked to the kitchen. She soon returned, carrying a plate with a sandwich. "Eat this, Dante is waiting for you in the backyard."

Godou wanted to ask but decided to do that after he had eaten something. He hadn't gotten anything into him since early this morning, and that was just a couple spoons of scrambled eggs. He didn't complain as it tasted very good for being something so simple. He took a bite of the sandwich and ate it completely silent as he savored each bite of it, and before he knew it had he eaten up the entire sandwich. Then without saying anything walked he to the backyard. Standing there completely still was Dante. He was just looking up at the cloud covered sky.

"Good, you're finally here." he said as he felt Godou get closer. He looked down so that he could see Godou. "So let us begin your training."

This shocked Godou. "What are you talking about?"

"You might have gotten a god's Authority, but we still don't know what it does, how it works or how many you even got." he informed the younger boy. "Start of by closing your eyes and try to focus on the power within you."

"Alright." Godou responded before he closed his eyes and focused at the sensation that was deep inside him. Soon saw he the teen forms of Verethragna on the ten disks that Dante had shown him yesterday. He opened his eyes, that had been… weird, for a lack of a better word. He had seen them just once but he already knew how some of them worked, like they had been there his whole life.

The Bull: boosted strength, the Bird of Prey: god speed, the Camel: boosted leg strength, martial arts skills and faster healing, the Boar: crushes anything in its path, the Tempest: instant transportation, the White Stallion: a blast of fire from the sun and the Ram: resurrection from the dead.

But all of them paled in comparison to the Warrior Authority. Summoning a sword and could create a world that could cancel out any gods power by severing their divinity. This effect wasn't permanent but it was a very good ace to have up your sleeve.

"So what did you find?" Dante asked as he figured out that Godou had seen his Authorities.

"I have ten Authorities, each one seems to be representing one of Verethragnas ten forms." he explained as he had figured out what they had been.

"Alright, now let's test them out." he said with a smile on his face while he cracked his knuckles. "I will accept pain in my search of answers. I will accept hanging outside the world in my search for knowledge. Now appear before me, the power of knowledge and I shall bear this pain."

Four runes was created before they turned into liquid and covered Dante's hands like gloves. Godou didn't have any time to react before Dante was already right in front of him and sent a powerful punch to the gut. The air was knocked out of him before he was sent back flying and landed on the ground with a thud. He let out a grunt of pain as he sat up and looked at Dante that was waiting for him to get up.

"What was that for?" he asked while clutching the spot where he had been punched. Surprisingly it hadn't hurt as much as he fought it would, but it was still painful as hell.

"I told you didn't I? We are training." he tightened his fist a second time, ready to attack Godou once more. "You better take this seriously, or I might kill you."

He then dashed forward toward Godou and sent a punch towards Godous face. Godou was able to dodge this time as he was ready for it this time unlike before, but felt as the fist grazed his face as the attack had been too fast to dodge completely. He dodged a second punch this one aimed at his stomach, but left himself wide open for a uppercut to the jaw and was knocked back a second time. He quickly stood up as he didn't have time to lie down as Dante might go for another hit.

He needed something that would put him on a more even field. He looked down at Dante's silver hands and understood that they were giving him a boost in strength and punching power. He felt one of his Authorities reacting and he suddenly started speaking, the words coming to him naturally.

"For I am strongest amongst the strong. Truly, I am one that holds each and every victory. I care not whom challenges me, whether man or devil; I may face all my foes and all my enemies. Regardless, I shall crush all those who wouldst stand in my way!" he felt the power of the Bull fill his body as he was done with the incantation. He looked down in his hands in wonder, it felt like he could easily crush boulder with just his bare hands. He didn't think more about it as he noticed that Dante was once more right in front of him and was sending a fist towards him.

But unlike the other times blocked he the attack with the palm of his hand, this time it didn't hurt nearly as much as it had done before. Godou then sent his own fist towards Dante and hit him in the chest, and much like Godou had done before, was he also sent flying backwards. The silver on his hands went up his arms and unto his back to lessen the damage as he landed on the ground. But unlike Godou who had landed flat on his back, used he the momentum to roll on the ground and stand straight up.

"That was a good hit, Godou. I'm impressed." he praised as the silver liquid returned to his hand and he clenched them once more. Two more runes then formed, before merging with his silver fists, forming four small pointy spikes right over his knuckles.

Godou looked at the spiked fists for a moment, a bit unnerved by the fact that they might be able to do severe damage. But even so ran he up to Dante and started send several punches towards the older boy, most of which was either blocked or dodged. He was able to get a couple of hits but also had to dodge as Dante was also trying to hit him. He hadn't been able to get a good hit with the spike covered part of his fists but had still got some decent hits.

They continued with this exchange of punches before Godou put some distance between them with a kick to the blonde boys midriff, forcing him to stagger backwards as the kick had taken him by surprise. He had to admit, Godou was better than he thought.

Godou was still confused as to why he needed training as he hadn't gotten a direct answer. But he didn't care, he didn't know why but he felt alive and actually liked the rush of adrenalin he got from the training/deathmatch he was currently having with the older boy. This was evident by the smile that was currently plastered on his face even as he panted.

The same could be said about Dante as he also was enjoying the fight. Even if he had decided to not use his gun to give Godou more of an advantage in this fight and at surviving it.

In other words, he wasn't giving it his all, and wasn't able to give it his all. He looked down at his fists.

'I have about five minutes before Origin of the Runes run out of power' He thought before looking over at Godou. 'The same thing can be said about the Bull, as it should also be out of energy soon.'

He knew he would soon need to use one of his other Authorities. But which one he wasn't sure.

The Einherjar would kinda be like cheating, as he would have an advantage in numbers.

Sleipnir had already been used up, unless Godou went for either the Boar or White Stallion.

One Eyed Wanderer, pretty much useless in battle.

Flames of Rage, no the setback was to severe, if he used it once more might his heart or any other part of his body explode afterwards and he didn't want to kill either himself or Godou.

That only left him with his first Authorities, the ones he had the most experience with.

'Maybe I should have have thought this through more than I did. Oh well.'

The gloves of silver dissipated into light blue particles before they also disappeared, leaving no trace of his Authority. Godou was shooked by this as he was expecting Dante to once again go on the offensive. He took this as a chance as ran up up to Dante, and aimed a right hook to his face.

"Hammer of Justice, Come to thy Master."

In Dante's right hand appeared a hammer, its head was a big square formed lump of solid iron, making it appear to heavy to be used as a proper weapon. Several runes was carved into its right and left side. It had a one handed handle, wrapped in black leather and a pommel made of the same iron as the rest of the hammer with a simplistic design to it.

He swung the hammer at Godou's arm like the huge piece of iron was weightless, swatting it away from him with ease. The hit would have been more than enough to break Godou's arm if the Bull hadn't been active.

Godou let out a gasp of pain at the sudden hit to his arm. The attack had been too fast to track even with his boosted senses and had only been seen as a gray blur. He had felt the Raptor respond to the attack but had been too focused at attacking Dante to suddenly change Authority. He back pedaled away from the older boy before he the hammer could hit him a second time, barely dodging a hit that had been aimed for the head.

Godou eyed the hammer in Dante's hand. Despite its apparent weight was Dante able to swing it at inhuman speed, triggering the Raptor. Getting hit with that even once was almost enough to break his arm. But it had also allowed him the use of the Camel. Wasting no time as he felt the effect of the Bull end started he to chant a second time.

"For I am gallant, and what I display is the sigil of the fierce Camel!"

He felt the pain in his arm disappear as the Camel started healing him and the strength in his legs increased. He dashed forward once more, creating a small crater underneath where he had just been. Dante raised the hammer over his head and swung down meeting Godou's leg as he had turned midair to use his legs instead of his arms as they were to only one's receiving a boost.

While the force behind the kick was great, it wasn't nearly enough to overpower Dante's hammer. He pushed his hammer down and pinned Godou's foot between it and the ground. He let go of the handle and put his foot on the head. Godou tried to get it of him, but even with his boosted strength wasn't he able to even budge it from place. He would need the Bull to even be able to lift it.

"For I am strongest amongst the strong. Truly, I am one that holds each and every victory. I care not whom challenges me, whether man or devil; I may face all my foes and all my enemies. Regardless, I shall crush all those who wouldst stand in my way!" He expected a rush of power as he finished the incantation for the Bull but nothing happened, infact was the Camel still active, healing his arm. "Huh?"

"As I suspected, you can only use them once each day." the blond boy said as he raised his foot from the hammer head. Godou tried to lift it once more but was still kept in place. "Don't even try, that hammer will counter any attempt at being lifted unless you have an affinity with lightning"

He showed his hand to the dark haired boy and Godou saw sparks of electricity go between his fingers. He then reached for the hammer and lifted it off Godou's foot. "Do you wanna continue?"

Godou thought if he was able to continue. The only Authorities that he still had left that he could use right now was the Camel, Raptor and White Stallion. He couldn't use the Stallion as the house would most likely get caught in the blast. The Raptor just boosted his speed and wasn't really meant for battle. It was more of either an escape or dodge. He didn't have anything to use in this situation.

"No, I give up-" he wasn't able to say anymore before Dante suddenly started to violently cough up blood. He was soon on his knees with one hand covering his mouth and the other his chest. Blood dripped between his fingers unto the ground, each cough he made forced up more of his life fluid. "Hey are you okay?"

Godou ran up to the older boy but didn't know what to do. Dante was too busy coughing up blood and feeling agonising pain to even notice that his fellow Campione had gotten closer, infact had he completely forgotten that Godou was even here as he was completely focused at the pain he felt. The hammer that he had summoned before turned into light blue particles much like the runes had done before and disappeared.

'Damn, I just needed five more minutes and then I would most likely have been safe.' He thought as his body was gradually getting weaker with each cough. His vision was getting blurry and he found it harder and harder to stay conscious. 'Maybe I should rest a little while.'

He closed his eyes and his body instantly went limp and he fell to the ground. His hands was still covering his chest and mouth, he had stopped his violent coughing. But instead had it turned into a steady stream of crimson liquid that leaked out of his mouth,between his fingers and unto the ground. Seeing as Dante had lost conscience, picked Godou up the older boy not caring about the blood that was seeping onto his shirt and hurriedly got him inside so that he could get treated by whatever had happened to him.

"I honestly don't have any idea what it is that happened with Dante. But if I would have to guess would I say that this is just an after effect from one of his Authorities." Lucretia explained after her examination of her son. As she couldn't use magic on him had she instead have to use different medical tools like a stethoscope and thermometer. This being the only the only explanation she could come up with as she couldn't find anything wrong with him. "The only thing he need is some rest and something to help him heal."

They were currently in the guest room that Dante had occupied the day before. He had stopped coughing and leaking blood from his mouth but was breathing very heavily. She reached for his backpack and searched inside it for a moment. She soon pulled up a vial filled with some kind of green powder.

In that moment walked Maria in as she had been preparing some tea. As she saw the green filled vial, stopped she moving for a second. She knew what was in that vial as she knew the people that had most likely given it to her brother, the Red Sands organization.

She knew she had felt another presence yesterday but had just shrugged it off as it had been too weak to be a person. But now when she see that green filled vial knew she exactly who it was, Ebony.

She didn't think more about it as she poured hot water into one of the cups she had brought with her. Her mother took the cup and poured a little bit of the green powder into it. The hot water soon turned light green and she immediately put the cup to Dante's lips and tilted it, letting him drink it slowly.

Meanwhile was Godou and Erica just standing there quiet, not wanting to say anything. Godou was the one that broke it as he wanted to ask a question that was currently on his mind.

"Hey Erica, can that happen with me to because of my Authorities?"

"That depends." she answered him as she looked at the unconscious King in front of them. She then turned her gaze to Godou with a small smile. "Didn't you find out in your training?"

"Ah, about that why exactly did I need training? As soon as I activated my Authorities knew I exactly how to use them and their abilities, and I know that Dante probably knew that as we're both Campiones. So why?"

"Didn't he tell you? You will be fighting Melqart tomorrow!" she answered looking a little bit shocked.

Godou's brain had to reboot at the sudden information he had just heard. The only response he could make being. "...Huh"

* * *

Used Authorities.

Dante.

 **Weapons of Thunder, Mjönir -** This Authority gives Dante the hammer of Thor: Mjölnir. While it is active will he receive a boost in strength and if it is in his hands will it have the same effect as the Bull. The restriction for this Authority is that Dante most face something of either great size or strength. Like all the other Weapons of Thunder can anybody use it as long as they have an affinity with lightning but won't get the boost.

 **Incantation:** Hammer of Justice, Come to thy Master.

Godou.

 **The Bull** \- Gives Godou the strength needed to either overpower his opponent in strength or to perform an action that needs more power to do.

 **Incantation:** For I am strongest amongst the strong. Truly, I am one that holds each and every victory. I care not whom challenges me, whether man or devil; I may face all my foes and all my enemies. Regardless, I shall crush all those who wouldst stand in my way!

 **The Camel -** Gives Godou boosted leg strength, faster healing, better battle instincts, increased combat abilities and defense. The condition for him to use it being that he most have gotten injured to a certain degree.

 **Incantation:** For I am gallant, and what I display is the sigil of the fierce Camel!


	4. Chapter 4

**I do not own Campione. I just own my OC's. Indra is owned by Crimson Dragon Emperor.**

 **Author's note: If you have any questions or ideas please do tell me by either reviewing or sending me PM.**

* * *

Chapter 4

Dante opened his eyes and saw the blue sky over him. He sat up only to see that he was once again in the world of endless sky and uncountable amounts of boulders.

He stood up and saw that he was by where the path of stone split into three. The flowers was still there since he was here earlier just this day. He stepped on the flower covered stone and didn't do more. He waited for something to happen. But nothing came. Seeing this continued he forward on the path, with each boulder he placed his feets on sprouting more flowers. As he noticed that no one was going to stop him started he running down the path, hoping to get to the end as soon as possible. But the path kept going into the distance and didn't seem to have an end.

But it didn't matter, Dante kept running. He couldn't use the Authorities he had used up as they were still recharging, meaning that he couldn't boost his speed or ride on Sleipnir.

After a while stopped he running and sat down on one of the boulders. Around him grew many flowers of different kinds. Roses, Lilies and Chrysanthemum of different colors, just to name a few.

He plucked a white rose that was growing not to far from where he was sitting. He took a sniff out of it and felt his whole body relax at the scent. He heard rustling besides him as somebody sat down besides him. Dante just turned a sideways glance at the one that had joined him on the boulder. Seeing as the person was wearing orange that covered much skin and not white that just covered the privates turned he back his attention to the flower.

"How have you been Dante?" the newcomer asked. It's voice was clearly that of an older male, it was deep and held much knowledge and experience. But also some hidden playfulness and small hints of a laid back personality.

"Good. What about you?" he responded while turning his whole attention to the man. He looked to be in his early thirties and had long red hair that was flowing freely down his back and blue eyes that matched the sky around them. His figure was well built, even more so than the god that Dante had meet here earlier and was dressed in orange robes, showing his right arm and part of his chest and stomach. He was sitting in the lotus position, with his upper body leaning a little bit forward over his legs.

"Not mentioning me by name, huh. Oh well…" he said before picking one of the flowers that had started growing when he got here. A lotus that was mostly heavenly blue like his eyes, before turning a more purple shade by the edges. "A bit bored. It's hard to be stuck here with someone that wants to kill you. About that, I felt that you used his Authority."

"Yeah, that's most likely the reason that I'm here. Also what is this place?" he asked the red haired man as he would most likely know the answer. After all the sky was his domain.

"I'm not really sure, but I guess this is where all your Authority's are stored. This is just a theory, but seeing as it has existed for as long as I have been here do I think that it holds some truth." the blue eyed god told his explanation behind this world's existence.

Dante didn't like the answer he was given as he wanted to know why this world was inside his head, or he thought it was inside his head at least. But he was beginning to doubt that.

"I guess that makes sense." he responded, accepting that theory for now. "Now what do you want, Indra?"

A smile tugged on Indra's lips as his slayer asked him that question. He stood up with ease from his position. "I just wanted to talk. Unlike that Snake, I don't have to ask you to use my powers. After all, I'm the first god you ever killed."

Dante smiled at the way the King god labeled the other god. He didn't blame him as there probably isn't any god that like the black haired god.

"But I'm a bit surprised. You let a chance at slaying a god as powerful as Verethragna slip out of your grip, and you're not mad. Infact you seem happy that it happened." the Hindu god cast a curious look at the blonde boy, waiting for his response.

Dante's right eye started shining blue for just a moment before returning to its normal light purple color. "I saw his potential, and how he might affect the future."

"But you have started to feel the consequences haven't you." It wasn't a question, it was a statement. "Ever since he became a Campione, have you slowly been feeling your instincts slowly taking over. When you called on my hammer, one of the first Authorities you ever got, you felt your nature of a Campione taking over. You knew how easy it would have been to kill him right then and there. All that you would have needed to do was to aim for his head and wanted the force to crush his skull."

Dante looked down at his hands, knowing that he was right. His hands was in truth covered in blood, more so then what should be possible for a boy 17 years old. It was first time in a good while that he had let his nature control him.

"But you didn't, instead you aimed for a part of his body that would recover quicker and held back much of the force." Indra smiled a little as he knew there was only one other person that have had that effect on his usurper. He clapped his hands and most of the stone path disappeared like it had been a mirage. At the end stood a person that had their back turned towards them. Dante stood up as he recognised the figure. "Go, she's waiting for you."

Dante instantly broke into a sprint as the god of Thunder said that, leaving him behind.

"He's always so concerned when it comes to her, even when he knows that she can take care of herself." he said this with the smile not leaving his lips. He reached into the sleeve of his robe and pulled out a orange orb that looked like a miniature sun. Around it flew several sparks of lightning that almost formed a shell around the small sun. He lifted his arm like he was going to throw a spear, the rest of his body was relaxed as his right arm was ready to throw. "He posses so much potential and power, but wouldn't use either to his full extent unless she told him to. Either that or if his or her life was in danger."

He threw the orb and it went of at incredible speed towards Dante. As it flew towards it's target started it to change shape, becoming more streamline and longer, becoming more of an oval shape. This wasn't its true form as it was sprouting sparks of electricity everywhere in an uncontrollable manner, but it was still powerful.

Dante, who had noticed the sudden presence of powerful magic, had turned just before the orb was about to pierce him. As it made contact with his skin started his natural resistance against magic to negate the attacks power.

But it didn't.

As soon as it touched his skin, activating his magic resistance, was there a distortion. Erasing Dante's natural defence against magic for just a moment. It might just have been less than a second, but it was more than enough for the arrow to go through the blond without any hindrance. It pierced right through his chest and exited through his back. He stood there, looking down at the arrow of light that had impaled him in shock. He pulled it out of his body and sent a death glare at the god that had thrown it.

"Hmm, where have I've seen this image before?" the red haired god mussed to himself as he remember seeing something like this before. "Oh right. This was the way your dad died isn't it. Except he had a gaping hole where he had been pierced."

It was true. Where there should have been a hole straight through his body was he perfectly fine. But it did nothing for the pain Dante was feeling at the moment.

"Damn you…" he snarled at the god of Thunder. The oval orb in his hand started to change once more, but this time it was more than just its length. It became more stable and was compressing the light and lightning, until it took the form of a real arrow. It was blue in color as the lightning was its core and had a golden string going around it before ending in a golden arrow head. Around the head of the arrow circled several bolts of lightning, just like it had been with the orb before. At the other end had it three red feathers, the same red as the color of the man that had thrown this arrow. It was longer than most arrows and the power it was emitting now was even greater than it had been in its incomplete form.

In Dante's other hand formed a silver bow with blue flames and lightning painted over it. He nocked the arrow to the string and pulled back, aiming straight for the gods head.

"I should have known that you would do something like that. After all, like father like son." he glared in rage at Indra, who was smiling a smug smile. The Hindu god then pointed to a spot just below his throat. Dante looked at the spot but saw nothing. He then placed his hand on the place Indra was pointing at and felt the touch of metal. It was a silver ring attached to a gold chain that hung around his neck.

It was a normal ring, nothing magical about it whatsoever. But to him it was stronger than any magic. As his fingers closed around the ring felt he all of his anger disappear. The bow and arrow that had been in his hands lost its form, causing bolts of lightning and rays of light to explode out everywhere. His body was still filled with adrenaline, but his body had stopped to take up the hormone as soon as he felt the ring. He wobbled as he felt all his strength leave him and stepped a bit to the side. As he did stepped he to close to the edge and the boulder under his feet crumbled, taking him of balance.

His entire body tilted to the side without him even noticing, sending him falling head first towards the clouds below him. He looked towards Indra, the hindu god was looking over the edge with a smile on his lips as he saw his slayer fall out of this world once more. He then looked towards the figure at the end of the path. The only thing he could see at the person before he fell through the clouds was her black hair. No more was he able to see of her before the clouds blocked his vision and he was returning to the real world.

Meanwhile up on the path of stone had Indra started walking away from the black haired girl. In his hand was an arrow identical to the one that Dante had created out of the orb earlier. "With just so much as a word from you would he happily kill all other Campione, without caring about the risk he would put himself in or regret any of his actions afterwards. With just an order would he use his full potential, until you told him to stop. You can do pretty much anything you want with him and he would obey. The only order he wouldn't listen to would be if you wanted him to kill either you or himself."

Indra looked over his shoulder at the girl in the distance. He then turned his attention to the arrow. As he looked on it changed it into a spear, before turning into a modern throwing dart and then into the same kind of bullet Dante use for his Contender. "After all, you're the closest he has to a real path."

With those words disappeared the bullet resting in his hand and he started walking once more. He knew that she wouldn't hear what he had said as she was nothing more than a collection of memories of the real her, that had taken shape in this world. But it was nice to just say it as he didn't have anybody else to talk with. Or at least no one that he would like to talk with.

As Dante woke up saw he the ceiling over him, for real this time. He sat up noticing that it was dark in the room, indicating that it was most likely night time. He looked over to the clock besides his bed and saw that it read 11:55 pm.

'Five minutes huh.' He thought as he lie back down at the bed. He thought back to the world he had been in just recently and was most likely about to return to. He now knew why it was a world of endless sky, no matter where you looked. As Indra always have had strong ties to it, even ruling over it in most of his legends.

He reached for the ring that was under his shirt and pulled it out. He unhooked the chain that kept it around his neck and stared at it for a moment, before taking away the chain and put the ring on his right ring finger. A smile appearing as he looked at the small ring of silver. A tear then streaked across his cheek.

"I… I miss you." he whispered to himself in a strained tone of voice. He just lied there looking at the ring with tears streaming from his eyes.

His phone then suddenly start ringing. He went up from his lying position with a start and made his way to his bag as fast as possible and pulled out his phone. Without looking at the caller ID clicked he the answer button.

"Hello this is Dante, with who am I speaking?" he answered a little hurriedly as he only had a limited time to speak.

"Hello, it's me Ebony. Lord Dante, I have some information regarding my brother. He had a vision." he heard the voice of the girl say. This caught Dante's attention as he knew how rare it was for Ebony's brother to get a vision as the spell he used didn't only take such long time to charge but also that he wasn't very often sane enough to speak the words for it properly and much less being able to write something understandable afterwards. In exchange was he able to get as much information as Princess Alice herself. If not a teeny tiny bit more.

"What did it say?"

"That there will be another King to be born. It's weird that another Campione will born so soon after Lord Kusanagi." she answered his question with her usual humble tone.

"When?"

"It doesn't say exactly when, just 'soon after the starless night'."

Dante thought about what she said. It truly was weird. Having a second Campione be born so soon after another. Between him and Godou there was a two year difference at least. But the starless night, in all his vision there was just about a little more than a week before that happened.

"But to think that he would slay Verethragna, a god of Victory noless. But how are you going to take care of Melqart? Don't tell me you're going to fight him!"

"Yeah, both me and Godou, tomorrow night." he answered her.

"How did you get him to agree to fight both of you, knowing that you're both Kings."

"Gods are filled with pride, while being their greatest source of power, is it a double edged sword. Use it the right way and you can have all prideful god's follow your every command without them even knowing it." he explained as he remembered the words his father had learned him. It was a teaching that had helped him many times when it came to taking care of gods of different kinds.

"Oh, alright…" she responded as she understood what her lord was telling her. It was quiet for a moment, before Dante decided to break it.

"Was that all?" the brown blonde boy asked just to make sure. He knew that he could trust Ebony but knew that she could be kind of a scatterbrain at times. It didn't happen very often that she forgot something, but better being safe then sorry. He then remembered the black haired girl in that world. "Have you heard anything from-"

"No, I'm sorry my Lord but we haven't heard anything from her" she cut him off before he could finish. As she was about to continue, heard she a sudden gasp of pain coming from the boy. "Lord Dante, what's wrong? Don't tell me you used up the runes!"

No more was heard from her over the phone as he turned off the call. Dante had clutched his hand right over where his heart was located as he felt intense pain spread from it. In the beginning had it felt like his heart had been pierced. His entire body then started to be filled with barbs that went through every nock and cranny of his body. In normal cases was this amount of pain more than enough to knock Dante unconscious. But he was kept conscious throughout the entire experience. He couldn't move his body, as the barbs had since long pierced his joints and kept them in place. He couldn't scream or call for help, as the barbs had already pierced his throat.

For about ten minutes he just stood there, the pain never leaving him or subsiding in the slightest. It then just disappeared, taking the barbs with it. He stood there not moving a muscle, before gravity did its job and he fell to the ground, finally knocked out by the pain.

Strangely enough hadn't he returned to the other world as he thought he would. Instead was he dreaming, a real dream where he had no influence.

It was a battle between gods. One of them being Indra, but instead of his orange robe was he wearing what appeared to be a white toga. He was still wearing it in the same fashion as he did now, with one arm bare and the rest of his body covered. The other thing that was different was that he had a beard, like he hadn't shaved in several months. Around him flew several bolts of lightning, and he was even holding one in his right hand. The expression on his face wasn't the carefree one that he had just a moment ago, but a serious one.

The other he wasn't able to see properly, but one thing was certain: it was big, very big. It was a huge shadow that stretched far up into the sky and far into the horizon. It looked down at the king of gods in front of itself, its many eyes reminding of stars in the black sky.

The two mighty beings was fighting one another, matching each other in terms of strength, as bolts of lightning meet streams of lava like fire.

The only thing that was different between the two was the fact that Indra was more mobile, and could dodge most of the attacks. He lifted his finger up, pointing it towards the sky. He then swung it down and the sky's fury rained down at the beast in the form of hundreds of lightning bolts, forcing a howl of pain to erupt from its mouths, a howl that shook the earth itself.

Morning came and Arianna walked into the room to check on Dante, carrying a small tray with a cup of the medicine he had been given the other day. "Hey, Dante are you awake?"

She looked at the bed but didn't see him in it. She looked around the room and saw him sprawled over the floor. She walked over to him and shook him lightly, getting a grunt out him as he woke up, before he sat up and looked at the maid.

His vision was heavily blurred and the only things that he could diverse was her black hair and blue eyes. It took some time before he was able to identify the girl in front of him. "Oh, good morning Arianna." he greeted her before proceeding to rub the sleep out of his eyes. As he did offered Arianna him the cup that she had brought with her.

"Thanks." He thanked before taking a sip out of the steaming cup. He frowned at the bitter taste of the herbs that had been mixed with the water and wanted to spit it out as soon as it touched his tongue. But he forced everything down as he knew that it would help him recover.

As he finished the cup handed he it back to Arianna and thanked her once more. "Thank you Arianna, I really needed that."

"No problem, it was the least I could do for a King. But if don't mind me asking, what were you doing on the floor?" she asked while taking the empty cup that the blonde boy was handing to her. As she did caught she sight of the silver ring adorning Dante right ring finger. She wanted to ask about that to, but decided against it as it probably was something private.

"I must have walked in my sleep or something cause honestly, I don't remember." he lied with a sheepish expression on his face, hoping to foul the black haired maid. It seemed to work as she smiled a honest smile back at him.

"Ah, okay." she replied as she stood up. She then walked over to the half open door, and before she exited turned she back towards Dante. "The others are already awake and are waiting for you in the living room."

"Ah, tell them that I'll be with them in just a moment." he told her while standing up from the floor. She did a slight bow before exiting the room, closing the door behind her.

He walked over to his bed, seeing the gold chain over the blanket picked he it up in his left hand. He looked down at the ring it belonged to. He knew that Arianna had looked at it, even if it had been just a moment and was thankful that she hadn't asked about it. He pulled it off and put it back onto the chain. Before returning it to where it belonged; around his neck, under his shirt.

He just hoped that she wouldn't tell Erica about it. He had looked into the future and seen how she teases Godou and the amount of pleasure she appeared to take in it. If she were to find out…

A shudder ran down his spine at the mere thought of what might happen if she knew about the ring. He was even glad for once that he could only see other people's futures and not his own.

He walked out of the room and heard the others talking with each other. As he got into the living room was everybody else already there and waiting for him. They were all dressed in pretty much the same clothes as the day before, except Erica and his mother.

Erica was still wearing a red dress, but this one was different from the other as it had shoulder straps unlike the other, and the little diamond that showed that extra bit of cleavage was gone. The white piece of cloth that had been placed around her throat was also gone, and was replaced by a necklace with a small cross dangling from the chain.

Lucretia had abandoned the idea of wearing a dress and was instead wearing a white blouse, and a purple skirt stopping just above her knees. While covering the rest of her legs had she put on her purple stockings, the same kind as the ones she had worn when they got here yesterday. The top buttons was open, showing a bit of cleavage from the older woman. Her hair was set up in a ponytail that was kept in place with a purple ribbon.

"Good morning Dante." the brown haired woman greeted her oldest child as she saw him coming into the room. She was currently sitting on one of the armchairs while enjoying a cup of coffee. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm feeling good." he responded to his mother's question. He then walked over to Godou who was sitting not to far away in the same chair as he had sat in two days ago, with Erica sitting besides him. "Good morning Godou. How's the arm?"

Godou, who had been deep in thought about everything that had happened and the fast approaching battle against Melqart, looked up at Dante. "Oh, good morning Dante. It's good, thanks to the Camel was it able to completely recover a few moments after the training yesterday."

"Good." he replied to the dark haired boy's explanation. He had a feeling that he had been told about their battle with Melqart that was happening later today, but decided to ask just to make sure. "Did you hear about our battle with Melqart?"

"Yeah, Erica told me yesterday while you were knocked out." he told the older boy. He looked over at Erica, who gave him a mischievous smile in return. He then looked back at Dante. "By the way, what happened with you yesterday?"

"Do you remember the Authority that I used against Verethragna?" he asked Godou, getting a nod as his answer.

How could he forget it. When it had first activated, had the amount of rage and bloodlust been enough to even make two gods freeze up for a moment. Just remembering it sent shivers down his spine, before going through his whole body.

"Let's just say that using it comes with a price." he said, not wanting to reveal too much about his Authority. While he trusted Godou and saw him as a friend, couldn't he be too careful while knowing that they might become enemies one day. And having an opposing Campione that knew one of your greatest weaknesses wasn't exactly at the top of his list.

"Ah... okej." Godou replied, a bit bummed by that simple explanation as he had expected something of an more in depth explanation about the Authority. But he didn't dwell on it as he knew that the older boy most likely had his reason why.

The rest of the morning went by without much happening. Everyone was just taking it easy, preparing themselves in their own ways for the battle against Melqart. Dante and Erica was both reading books about the Phoenicians and their gods, mostly Melqart as he was their opponent. The books had they borrowed from Lucretia as they only had a limited to gather information.

Meanwhile was Godou trying a game of chess against Maria just to see how hard it could be, and was clearly losing. He had lost all of his rooks and bishops. More than half of his pawns had also been taken down by the ruthless 'Queen of Chess', leaving him with just two pawn, two knights, his queen and king pieces. He have had a feeling that Maria would beat him, but not by this much. And still it felt like she was just playing with him.

Lucretia was just taking it easy, reading a book herself to pass the time. Unlike the books that her son and the blond knight was reading, that focused on Phoenicians, was it just a romance roman she had picked up. She found it very intriguing, she liked the fact that the writer had taken real life experiences and mixed it with old myths. This was the second book in the series, and she couldn't wait for the third one.

As noon came went they outside to eat. They went to the backyard, seeing that the weather was fine had they decided to eat outside. Lucretia rolled out a blanket for them to sit on, while Dante was making a grill with his runes. Lucretia had never bothered with getting one as she mostly cooked her meals in the kitchen.

Erica and Arianna was bringing out the eating utensils and glasses. They had to admit, taking it easy even when knowing that the island could possibly sink was actually not a bad idea.

Meanwhile was Godou cleaving the wood they were going to use for the grill. He had noticed that it was much easier than he thought it would be. He knew that it most likely was because of his Campione body that he could do this. But even so, he was cleaving wood with his bare hands!

When he had asked for an axe had Lucretia just responded with: 'I'm sorry, I don't have one'. He also didn't want to ask Dante, as he was still in the middle of making the grill. And when he asked Erica had she just said: 'Try karate chopping some wood.' And that was what he did. He had been reluctant at first but found it strangely easy once he started. And he had to admit, it was kinda fun.

Maria came out carrying a plate filled with raw meat. She had been the one in charge of preparing the meat, and had done her job the best as could. She wasn't as good as her brother when it came to cooking, as he had been the one in charge of that during their travels.

Everyone was enjoying the grilled meat as it was done. Godou, Erica, Arianna, Maria and Lucretia was sitting down at the blanket, while Dante was standing by the grill to make sure that nothing got burned.

From anybody else's perspektiv would they had fought that it was just a family with their friends enjoying a beautiful day in the sun. But for those from the magic side, was this a rare sight.

Two Campione, the most powerful beings on Earth, laughing together with no hostility towards the other. Lucretia Zola, the highest ranked Witch alive. Erica Blandelli, a great knight of the Copper Black Cross, and the current holder of the title Diavolo Rosso. And Maria, the world's first half Campione. A gathering of powerful figures, each one of them strong in their own ways.

"Hey, am I the only one that feels like we're being watched?" Godou suddenly asked. He have had the feeling that someone was watching him ever since they got outside. He hadn't thought anything about it in the beginning as he thought it was just his imagination. But seeing as the sensation hadn't left him had it started to worry him a bit.

"Don't be silly Godou." Erica responded to his question. "I can't feel anybody else being here except us. Now say Ahhh"

She lifted up a piece of sliced meat and held it in front of Godou's mouth, hoping to feed him. Godou just stared at the piece being displayed in front of his mouth. "Erica, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm feeding you." she answered like it was the most normal thing in the world. A playful smile adorning her lips. She moved her fork closer, only for Godou to move further away.

"Yeah, I noticed, but why are you doing it?" he asked the blond knight as she got closer and closer to his mouth.

"What, is there something wrong with feeding the man I love?" she asked, almost looking a bit hurt at the question. Of course, she was faking it.

Feeling a bit guilty as he saw her hurt expression, opened Godou his mouth.

Dante looked over at them and couldn't help but smile a little, knowing that Erica had played him right where she wanted him. But also, because the scene was somewhat nostalgic for him.

" _Here Dante, open up!"_

The words were loud and clear in his mind as he remembered a memory from a time much like the one in front of him. He looked over at one of the trees. Godou wasn't the only one that had noticed the other presence here, but he hadn't said anything as he knew who it was.

He just looked back down at the meat, looking like nothing was wrong. His body was moving automatically as he flipped the meat, or put it on a plate. Meanwhile was his mind somewhere else entirely. He was in another place, in another time, with different people.

Or at least another person.

As he thought back to those times, couldn't he help but crack a smile. A smile that radiated warmth and love.

"So tell me Lucretia, what kind of person was Dante and Maria's father?" Erica asked the older woman. She was done with feeding Godou, who was now lying down at the blanket, staring up into the sky.

"He was a man of many talents. He was skilled in magic, and possessed vast knowledge about several pantheons, just to name a few."

The Witch of Sardinia went quiet for awhile, looking up towards the sky. Thinking back at their talks as they both watched their children grow up. The fated day when he left to try find his path, taking Dante and Maria with him. His weekly calls when they would talk for a bit. Their yearly arrival back home, before once again exploring the world. Then the call from Dante, telling her that he was dead, killed by a Heretic god.

"But he was also a broken man. Always looking for his 'own path' as he would put it. He knew that he would one day take over his own father's legacy, but he wanted something else in his life. But growing up to be a trained killing machine didn't help him with that. No it just put a burden on him, and he was forced to take a path that wasn't his own."

Erica was quiet as the older woman told her about the man that helped her bring her children to this world.

"He was never given a title like the ones you and I have. And while the people he killed was evil, was he never praised for his efforts." she looked down from the sky and turned her gaze towards her oldest child. "Sometimes I fear that he left too much of an impression on Dante, that he taught him more then how to kill and knowledge about god's. I fear that he's carrying his father's legacy on top of now being the successor to his grandfather's. But seeing him smile like that, is more than enough to tell me that he is okey."

Erica kept being quiet even after Lucretia was finished. She herself had turned her attention to the purple eyed King, and couldn't help but notice the smile on his face. A smile that spoke of fond memories and love. She could understand why Lucretia wouldn't worry, after all, she could practically feel the warmth radiating from that smile. She didn't know what had caused him to smile like that but one thing was for sure, it was something very precious to him, and would stop at nothing to protect it. While it was reassuring to know that he would protect those he cared about, she couldn't help but feel a bit scared. What if Godou, her King, or herself, accidentally hurt someone he cared for. Would he go on a rampage, would he just take them out as quickly as possible or would he accept their apology? She wasn't sure, and that was the reason it scared her.

Dante walked over to the blanket that everybody else had occupied, carrying a tray filled with different kinds of grilled meat. Chicken, pork, beef and a little bit of fish, salmon specifically. He didn't expect all of it to be eaten as there was a lot of meat just on the plate and a lot more to grill. But they needed all the energy they would need and it didn't do anything if it wasn't eaten up. They could just use it some other time. He sat down besides his sister on the blanket, and placed the tray on the other side besides him.

"Hey big brother, care for a game of chess?" Maria asked her older brother, already placing out all the pieces at the checkered board. Dante looked over at it, before looking up at his little sister. He nodded as he got the feeling that she would want a real challenge, as neither Erica or Godou had been able to beat or even been close for that matter at beating her. He placed the remaining pieces on his side while Maria waited for him to finish.

"So you start." the blond boy said as he looked over at the girl's white pieces. Maria nodded before moving one of her pawns forward. The others had started looking at the game, as the most of them knew Maria's skill in it.

As the game continued noticed they that the siblings was almost equally good at it, with Maria being just a little better.

"Checkmate!" Maria finally proclaimed. Unlike the other times when she had kept most of her pieces, had she only four left, counting the King. Meanwhile had Dante only two left, a pawn and the King. "That was a good game, Dante."

"Good that you liked it." he responded before standing up as he saw the other had started to put everything away. The game had taken more than an hour, and by that time had the most of the meat already been devoured. The wood in the grill had all burned up, just leaving ash behind as the only hint that it was ever there. He rolled it away into a nearby shed so it could be stored. A good thing about it was that runes he had made it out of wasn't given any magical properties, so it wouldn't affect those one and a half hours he had, expect for it's creation. As he walked out of the shed saw he that Godou was the only one left, rolling up the blanket they had all been using.

As he was finished with rolling up the blanket walked they inside. They only had a couple of hours left before their fight against Melqart, and this was the only amount of time they had left to prepare. Dante looked over the younger King out of the corner of his eye. This Godou… was different than the others. Unlike all the other possible futures, were Salvatore Doni had been the first other Campione that he had meet, was this one were Godou didn't appear to be unsure of his role as a Campione. That might be because Dante had left an impression on Godou on how Campione act. But truth be told, he wasn't close to another Campione would usually act, which might be why it had left a good impression.

The sky had suddenly started to be covered with clouds, blocking out the sun's rays before it started to rain, Melqart was near, his presence causing the unexpected rain. That was their sign to start moving. They had taken Arianna's car, as using Sleipnir right now may not be a good idea. Dante was the one driving the car, much to Arianna's dismay as she was left behind in the house. They couldn't take the risk of letting her drive as they couldn't take the risk of getting hurt even the tiniest bit, and taking her with them would just place her in harm's way. Erica had changed to her black and red striped combat uniform, but her sword wasn't with her at the moment. She and Godou was sitting in the backseat while Dante was alone in the front. Besides him on the passenger's seat was the wood case that contained his Contender and its bullets. He had taken them with him as he would most likely need them during the fight and they were his main choice of weapon.

They were all totally silent, only the distinct sound of rain hitting the car's windows and the roar of the car's engine filling the car with sounds.

'This will be my first fight against a god as a god slayer…" Godou thought. He didn't know why but every time he thought about fighting a god started his heart to beat a bit faster. It was the same as when they were about to confront Verethragna. He couldn't explain it exactly, but it felt like something deep inside of him just wanted out and fight. He looked towards the blonde boy behind the steering wheel. 'Is it… the same for him?'

Godou was a bit unsure what he thought about Dante. He was a friend, a teacher, someone who had helped him a bit on the path of being a Campione. But… at the same time was he actually a bit scared of Dante sometimes. When they had fought against Verethragna, he had the presence of a killer. Someone who was accustomed with killing in cold blood. And when they had trained the other day, when he had brought out the hammer, had he seen something in the older King's eyes. That they had suddenly gotten cold, but also showed a want for blood. His blood. And that left him wondering. Which one was the real Dante?

"We're here."

That was all that was needed for Godou to snap back into reality. He looked out the window and could see that they were indeed back to where they had fought the god of Victory. Everything was just like they had left it. The scourge marks from the Goat's lightning was still visible even after all the rain. And so was the hole that Dante had formed when he had fell down to the earth like a meteor. Before he himself was blasted with the Goat's lightning, leaving the ground scourged.

"That's weird. I thought one of the Italian magic organizations would have taken care of this by now." Dante pondered as he looked down into the crater he had created. He then looked over at Erica who was looking towards the cloud covered horizon. "Didn't you contact them yesterday?"

"I did, but I also told them that there was going to be another battle, so they will most likely take care of that either directly after your battle, or they will do it as soon as possible tomorrow morning." she informed the purple eyed King with her gaze now focused on him. "After all, they can't send anybody without even knowing if the island will be here or not when they arrive."

Dante understood what she meant and stood up from his crouching position. He scanned across the area. She had told him that they hadn't fixed any of the damage, but then why did he get the feeling that something was off. He closed his eyes and focused his hearing, searching for something that could possibly be wrong. He heard the rain as it hit the soft ground and the stone ruin further away. He heard the rustling of the leaves as the wind blew through them fiercely, threatening to take one of the trees branches with them. But there was something wrong, something that he missed. It felt like something was missing, but what. He soon heard the familiar sound of rumbling thunder. And just as he opened his eyes struck a bolt of lightning down right in front of them.

"It seem you came, god slayers." the inseparable voice of Melqart said, his voice sounding over a great distance before echoing back to them. Emerging from the bolt of lightning was Melqart, standing tall in all his glory with his two clubs in hand. He tilted his head downward to look at them. Not in a show of arrogance or dominance, just so he would see his opponents better. "In fact, I am glad that you came. After seeing your fight with Verethragna wanted I myself to test your powers."

He straightened his neck, returning to his full height. "Now god slayers, I Melqart the King of the Mesopotamian gods and these waters, challenge you both to a fight to the death. If you lose will this island once again become part of the sea, before I continue with the rest of my territories."

"But what if we win?" Godou asked.

Melqart spoke without hesitation. "If you were to best me in combat will I take my death with honor and let one of you take one of my Authorities."

This shocked all of them as a god had just freely given up one of their Authorities. The trade off may be that they needed to beat him, but still.

"Alright. I Dante Zola the 7th Campione and god slayer of three hereby take you up on that challenge!" Dante responded, taking a step forward. Godou looked at his fellow god slayer before he did the same.

"Likewise will I Godou Kusanagi the 8th Campione and god slayer of Verethragna also fight you!"

Erica was about to also step forward but was stopped by Godou who put his arm in front of her.

"What are you doing Godou?" she asked the Japanese boy with a bit of glare. But that didn't seem to affect Godou as he didn't move his arm or show anything except his resolve. Erica noticed this and understood what he was telling her. "Alright Godou I won't fight. But remember that I will be here if you need me."

Godou nodded in response before looking back towards Melqart, who had been patiently waiting for them to get ready. Dante was the first one to start chanting.

"I will accept pain in my search for answers. I will accept hanging outside the world in my search for knowledge. Now appear before me, the power of knowledge and I shall bear this pain!"

Several runes of silver started forming in the air, more so then what he usually created. They all then turned into a liquid that reminded of mercury, and latched onto Dante's arms and legs, covering all the way from his shoulders down to his fingertips, and from his knees to the underside of his foot. The boost he was given was significantly stronger than what he normally did. Not only in strength, but his arms was also given tremendous defence and durability. While his legs was given boosted strength and jumping ability.

Seeing that Dante had activated one of his Authorities, swung Melqart the club formed like a lightning bolt downwards, it's tremendous size making it capable of striking both of them in one swing. But before it was able to get close to them had Godou put himself in front of the incoming attack, the Bull activating itself to let him take the force of the club. He stretched his arms out towards the club, preparing to stop the attack, and as the strike meet his hands heard he the ground underneath crack as it took most of the force from Melqart's attack. But it stayed strong and kept Godou from sinking into the ground. The Bull giving him the strength needed to stop the club from going any further.

Noticing that his club had been stopped, lifted Melqart up the club. He then swung it down once more but with more strength behind it this time.

But instead of waiting for the club to strike him, jumped Godou into the air, his boosted strength sending him flying towards it with great speed. He clenched his right hand into a fist and felt the power from the Bull filling his entire arm, preparing to counter the swing from the Storm god. His fist meet hard wood and both of their attacks was sent backwards, opening a hole in the King gods defence.

A hole that Dante was quick to exploit. He himself had launched towards the giant god and had began to chant a second incantation. "What I seek is vengence."

Recognising what Authority the purple eyed Campione was preparing was Melqart quick to act. He steadied himself before swinging his other club towards the boy.

But he had seen it coming. A rune of fire appeared from out of nowhere in front of him. He put up his arms in front of him and the rune exploded, sending him flying away from Melqart's attack. "The flames of rage shall light inside me and the gods will fear me once more, for before me their rules mean nothing."

Melqart, who had his entire attention at the chanting Campione, failed to notice the huge chunk of earth that the younger King had hurled at him until it hit his face. He snapped his attention to Godou who was holding a second chunk of earth in his hands, ready to be thrown at the Mediterranean god.

Godou didn't hesitate to throw the huge boulder, even with the Storm god looking down at him. The power of the Bull making it fly fast towards the giants face. But it was easily blocked as he just swung one of his clubs at it, turning it to dust.

He then turned back attention to Dante, who was closing in on him a second time. He swung his wind formed club, but just like last time, he dodged by making a fire rune explode. Of course was Melqart ready for it this time.

A single bolt of lightning fell down from the sky, hitting Dante head on before he was able to chant anymore and sent him into the ground, just besides Godou, creating another hole.

"Are you alright?" Godou asked his fellow Campione, just as the Bull ran out of power, forcing him to drop his third chunk of earth.

"Yeah…" he answered as he slowly rose from the human formed pit. "Do you have any Authorities that you can use at the moment?"

Godou focused on his Authorities, seeing which ones was available to him right now. The White Stallion and the Boar, those were the only Authorities that he could use at the moment.

"Dante, I think we have a bit of a problem."

As he said that disappeared all of the emotions in Dante's face, leaving it blank. He let out a sigh before responding. "Alright, I will distract him, and when you see an opening, fire something at him."

He stood up completely and started his chant. "And even if I have to tear down the heavens to get my revenge, I won't back down. Now, you shall all fear me!"

Black flames sprouted to life around his lower arms and he started radiate a powerful aura of bloodlust and hate. His eyes filled with malice as one thought became dominant in his mind. _Kill the god Melqart._ The runes that had also been covering his arms started to melt at the flames heat, causing them to mix with the black flames. Not much changed with them, except that small flames of silver now appeared underneath the black ones. And then he was gone, the hint that he had been there being a newly formed crater.

He reappeared right in front of Melqart's face, his fist pulled back for a right hook. Before the Storm god had any time to react had Dante's punch already connected, causing him to stagger backwards and almost falling. He quickly got his balance back and sent a punch of his own. He had let go of his clubs, and they had both disappeared.

Dante didn't dodge but tried instead to block the attack. But the King of god's overwhelming strength was more than enough to send him flying. He looked down at the fist he had punched the brown blonde boy with, seeing that it had been burned.

"Truly interesting." he mussed as he looked over the small burn marks now adorning his hand. He looked up just in time to see Dante flying towards him. But before he could get too close was he hit by a powerful gust of wind, halting his moment. It was then followed up by several bolts of lightning hitting all at once, sending him towards the waters below.

But instead of landing in water like he had suspected landed he on the ground. His Authority had weakened from the lightning, making him able to think rationally again.

'Wait shouldn't there be water here?' he thought as he sat up before standing up. He looked up just in time to see Melqart's foot coming down on him.

Godou could only look in shock as he saw Melqart bring down one of his feet at the older boy.

'I need to do something, but…' he remembered that he was supposed to wait for an opening, but he couldn't or else Dante might get killed.

"Come to me, for victory! Immortal Sun, lend me a quick, shining steed."

In the sky appeared the sun, parting the clouds that was in its path. But it wasn't the real sun, as that one had already gone below the horizon.

"Come to me, great and ethereal horse! Your Master demands your immediate presence here!"

From the heavenly orb of fire shoot a horse of white flames out. It sped towards the giant like a giant spear of fire, intending to take down it's target.

But just like what had happened to Dante, was the White Stallion hit by a powerful gust of wind, slowing it down. But it kept going forward, not caring about the winds. It's purpose was clear and right in front of it.

The winds holding it back turned into a tornado, stopping the horse completely. The fierce winds that was holding it in place started to tear at the horse's body. First small flickers of flames that was quickly extinguished. But soon was larger parts like a whole leg or a chunk of the torso ripped from the Stallion's body.

It let out several cries of pain during the entire process. And Godou could do nothing but stare in horror at what was happening right in front of him.

As the flames had disappeared did the tornado that had hold them in place dissipate. Melqart looked down at the black haired god slayer and was quite pleased by his shocked expression.

"So what will you do now, god slayers?"

* * *

Used Authorities

Godou.

 **The White Stallion** \- Summons a horse of flames that bears the power of the Sun.

 **Incantation:** Come to me, for victory! Immortal Sun, lend me a quick, shining steed. Come to me, great and ethereal horse! Your Master demands your immediate presence here!


	5. Chapter 5

**I do not own Campione. I just own my OC's. The Weapons of Thunder is owned by Crimson Dragon Emperor.**

 **Author's note: If you have any questions or ideas please do tell me by either reviewing or sending me PM.**

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Chapter 5

"What will you do now, god slayer?"

What was he supposed to do? The Stallion had just been torn to shreds and the same thing could happen if he used the Boar. He needed to be careful with what choices he made, or else would he be done for. But at the same time needed he to hurry or else Dante might die.

But something in the back of his head told him that Dante would be alright. What he needed to lookout for was if Melqart would go on the offensive again.

Godou took a deep breath, trying to calm himself. He looked up at Melqart, his face not showing any of the uneasy feeling he had at the moment.

"May his spine be crushed," he began chanting.

"No you don't." Melqart proclaimed, sending his right fist downwards to strike Godou. But as he did spread a small smirk across the Japanese boys lips as he felt one of his Authorities response to the attack.

Before Melqart was able to response was Godou right over him, having used the Raptor to achieve godspeed. He had dodged the fist before running up on it and the god's arm. He had then ran up his arm before jumping off his shoulder to get himself in the position he was in right now.

"May his bones be broken, his tendons torn, his hair ripped from his skull; may his blood, spilled over the earth, be churned into a bloody froth. I shall become one who buries fangs into the sinner's flesh, that the will of the Lord be followed: Thou shalt be purged!"

A heavy aura filled the air as the incantation was complete. His arms was stretched upwards, waiting for his empty hands to hold onto something. Seemingly out of nowhere appeared the same boar that he had seen together with Dante and Erica in Sardinia a couple of days ago. It's eyes focusing in its selected target, waiting to crush whatever was in its path. He threw the Boar down towards the giant god, sending it falling down like a meteor of fur and tusks.

Melqart raised his hands to stop the Boar's descent but was only able to slow it down. Even as the Divine beast was held up in the air between his hands kept going downwards towards him. Causing the ground underneath him to crack from the pressure.

"Are you sure that was wise, god slayer? When your comrade is right under me." the bearded god asked, wondering why had chosen to attack him from a position like that. While it had made it nearly impossible for him to use his winds to block the attack was it still not a wise choice. His fellow god slayer had been underneath his foot during the attack and was being crushed even further into the earth.

But suddenly stopped he to sink into the ground rather abruptly. It was like his feet had meet a solid floor that wouldn't move. Melqart didn't notice it, but Godou and Erica did. The rumbling sound of thunder filled the air as bolts of lightning rained down from the sky.

But these ones wasn't caused by the Storm god influence. No these bolt was caused by something with a strong, almost unrivaled connection to lightning.

The red eyed boar slipped out of his grip and came crashing down into him, sending him tumbling down to the ground with the Boar on top of him. But the same happened with Godou as gravity did it's work and sent him falling down towards the ground underneath. But before he could get too close to the ground felt he someone catch one of his arms, stopping his descent to the ground. He looked up and saw the familiar black shirt and blonde hair that could only belong to one person that he knew.

"Dante!"

"Godou…" he replied but seemed to hesitate about something for a moment, but soon continued. "Next time you send a several ton boar towards a giant, please do that when I am not underneath the feet of the giant. I seriously thought I would die."

Godou let out a nervous chuckle at his fellow Campione's words. He had thought that it would work but had failed to take into account that Dante might not be so happy afterwards. As he looked up towards Dante once more saw he the hammer that he had used yesterday when they had been training. It was a hammer that even someone like him would recognize.

'Mjolnir.'

It had actually been a bit shocking in the beginning when he realised that Dante had slain Thor, the Norse god of Thunder. But he quickly let it go as it was something that had really happened and even had proof to back it up.

As they landed on the ground turned they to look back at the Mesopotamian god. He was still down on the ground but had already started to stand up again.

"Godou, do you have any Authorities left?" Dante asked the black haired boy, his eyes fully focused on the quickly rising god.

"No. I even used up the Raptor to save you." he informed, clutching his hoodie over where his heart was located as he felt the after effects of pushing one's body past its limits. His heart had beaten in protest during the entire time the Raptor had been active as it had needed to pump blood much faster than normal.

Dante noticed the pain the younger boy was in as he looked him over. It was very obvious, but aside from that looked it like he didn't have any other injuries. Unfortunately couldn't the same be said about him. He had a deep gush in his forehead that leaked blood into his right eye, forcing him to close it. His back had almost snapped when Melqart had stomped on him and it was painful as hell. His shirt had been shredded a bit by the winds Melqart had used to stop him and his back was covered in burn marks from the lightning. Other from that was he completely fine, so at least was he still able to fight.

"You can rest for a bit Godou, I will take care of Melqart until you're back." he informed, not waiting for a reply as he jumped towards the giant, boosted by the strength he was given was given from Mjolnir. He had lost his ability to fly together with Flames of Rage's deactivation.

The Mesopotamian god had been given all the time he could need to get back up, while the two god slayers had been talking. His clubs had returned to him and he was once again ready for battle. The armor covering his chest had several cracks in it from the impact when he got hit by the Boar and looked like it would fall apart at any moment. His crown had one lone crack going down in front of his forehead, making it look like it would split in two.

He saw as the blonde King flew towards him at high speed, a hammer in hand. Melqart swung his wind formed club sideways towards the Campione and was meet by his hammer. His club was knocked away from the boy, towards the ground as he had went for an overhead swing. Dante himself had been launched upwards after the confrontation.

But gravity quickly did it's job and he started falling downwards, Mjolnir outstretched in front of him as he closed in on the ground. Swung the gust formed club upwards to counter attack. But as soon as the two objects touched each other, let Dante go of Mjolnir, activating it's second effect. To counter any attempt of being lifted.

While Melqart was a Storm god with enough affinity to lightning to lift Mjolnir, couldn't the same be said about the club. The club: Yagarish the Chaser had only connections to the wind part of a storm. Had it been his other club: Ayamari the Driver, had Melqart easily been able to lift his weapon again and send the hammer flying. But not now. Melqart tried to retrieve his weapon but it wouldn't move an inch, no matter how hard he pulled so would neither the club or hammer budge.

'As long as he doesn't realise that he can just move the hammer as soon as he's touching it.' Dante thought as he was closing in on the ground below. As soon as he had let go of his hammer had he jumped of Yagarish before Melqart had tried to retrieve it so that he wouldn't become a target too quickly. He looked down at the ground, seeing that he was close to his landing spot. 'I have already figured out your plan, Melqart.'

Any god would normally be frustrated at having their weapon taken from them or being denied their use. The same went for Melqart, in any other case. But he was currently enjoying the fight too much for it to be any problem. Instead of getting furious and attacking, started he to laugh. "This is truly splendid, god slayers. Never before have I felt so alive as I am feeling right now!"

He let go of the handle of the club that was stuck under the lightning hammer, ignoring it completely. His entire upper body tensed and the sound of stone cracking filled the air. But the storm also picked up in strength. His stone armor exploded off of his body, not able to take the force of the giants muscles anymore.

"I will no longer fight against you as Melqart the King…" he said as his left hand reached for the crown adorning his head. He took a steady grip and pulled the crown in two, letting both of the pieces drop to the ground. "But as Melqart the Warrior!"

Bolts of lightning fell from the sky into his now raised club, causing lightning to envelop its entirety. His eyes had began shooting smaller bolts of lightning that looked to be nothing more like sparks do to his size. He seemed to focus in on Dante, but it was hard to tell as he didn't posses an iris. He swung his club down, sending a beam of heavenly fury towards the brown blonde boy. Dante wasn't given any time to react to the purple beam filled with thousands upon thousands of volts that quickly closed in on him.

But before it could get hit him tore the space in front of him up and out of the hole flew Sleipnir out. His body glowing purple as he crashed into Melqarts attack, stopping it from proceeding any further. His own strength started to increase, and when he had built up enough strength was the only thing he left behind a purple beam as he flew towards the Storm god, having gone from 0 to mach 15 in less than a second. Giving Melqart no time to react before the gray horse had already crashed into his chest, pushing him backwards, leaving long drag marks in the sand, but he didn't fall. Soon disappeared the majestic stallion as his job was done in a flash of purple. The blow had been powerful but it wasn't enough as much of the blow had been absorbed by his muscles.

That wasn't what Dante had expected. Instead of being weakened after taking the full force of the Boar and having cut off the usage of one of his clubs had it for some reason powered him up. And not by a small amount either, that beam had been strong enough to activate Sleipnir, meaning that the attack could have taken him out right then and there. But what really shocked was the fact that even when he was hit back with his own attack hadn't it been able to defeat him, it had just left a small bruise.

Dante turned towards the clip and started running, runes of many kinds forming in the air as he closed in on it. Silver runes quickly covering his legs and fire ones propelling him upwards. And soon was he back with Godou and Erica, which were both giving him a worried look.

"Hej Dante, are you okay?" Godou asked as he walked over, ready to support the older boy if needed.

"Yeah. Thankfully was Sleipnir able to stop the attack before it could hit me, before turning the damage back at him." he explained as he looked over his shoulder, seeing Melqart charging his club once again. He then turned to the Japanese boy. "How are feeling?"

"I'm fine. Thanks to you was I given all the time I would need to recover from the Raptor." he answered before he himself looked over at the lightning wielding giant. What was he doing here? That was a question he had been asking himself the last couple of minutes. He didn't have any Authorities left and it felt like he only was in Dante's way.

"If you're thinking that you are in my way, then you're wrong!" he says as if he had just read Godou's mind. "Do not blame yourself just because it looks like we're losing. Remember, if it hadn't been for you might I still have been under Melqarts foot."

Godou couldn't help but smile a little at the older boys encouraging words. While he had a feeling that Dante might have been able to get out of there by himself, was it reassuring to know that he had trust in him.

"Now go prepare the Golden sword. I'll keep Melqart at bay." he ordered, making Godou walking over towards Erica, who had now changed her attention to the black haired boy. She quickly closed the gap between them, pressing her lips to his and started transferring the information needed to take down Melqart.

Meanwhile turned Dante all his attention to Melqart, who was almost ready to send one more beam of lightning towards them. But Dante wouldn't let that happen.

And ordinary broadsword of runes formed in his right hand, ready to be used for the Authority he was about to use.

"Fires that is a part of the Creation, I am your Ruler and Champion, guarding your entrance until the times of the End, where we will engulf the World. Fill my weapon with your flames and become the sword that can cut down all! I am the Lord of Fire, for I am the Lord of Muspelheim!"

Much like with the Flames of Rage Authority was his arms covered in black after he was complete. But instead of flames was it his skin that changed. His skin's surface became rough and hard, much like the surface of a stone, and had became as black as the night. It reached all the way up to his elbows before stopping abruptly. The black surface cracked, creating several lines that glowed orange and making look like small plates of obsidian had been stacked besides of each other all the way down from his elbow down to his wrist. His nails had became charcoal black, making them just a little bit easier to distinct from the rest of his hand, which had the same color as the rest of his arm.

The blade in his hand was pretty much the same, except that it's blade looked like it had just been taken out of the forge, shining a golden orange glow, making almost look like it was enveloped in flames. It was shining brightly, almost as bright as the Stallion had done before being ripped apart by one Melqarts tornados.

Melqart swung his club down, sending his second beam of lightning towards his opponents. Dante readied his sword as he saw the approaching attack. He knew that he could block it, but… would the blade hold long enough?

As the attack was in range swung Dante his glowing sword, easily cleaving it on the middle from top to bottom, leaving a line of fire where Dante had swung the blade, continuing to cut the beam in two as the rest of it made contact with the flames. The earth where the beam had traveled was quickly scourged and the area around them was also darkening at a fast phase by the intense heat. The blade that had been in Dante's hand had disappeared, as it was destroyed by the Authority.

"Oh, You survived my attack?" Melqart asked as he saw that all of them was still alive and had not been turned into a crisp. "Well that's just good. Now let us continue our fight-"

"No Melqart, this ends now!"

"Hmm?"

He shifted his gaze to Godou, who was standing behind Dante, Golden sword in hand. His head was filled with the knowledge that he needed and his features showed that he was completely serious about his statement. The blade started to shine as he started to reveal the gods identity. "Melqart is a god born in the ancient Middle East. Baal is his true name. He was originally the Sky, the god worshiped by primitive nomadic tribes who tended sheep and lived upon them. In ancient times, people viewed this god as the infinite unbounded sky itself!"

The clouds in the sky disappeared, showing the clear night sky, the ground around them turned gold and swords started to fill the air as he kept speaking of Melqarts identity.

"Central Asian nomadic tribes, such as the Mongolians, also defied the Sky in a similar manner. However, Baal, and equivalently, Melqart belong to the Middle East… A god born in the orient. He is not simply a god of the sky, for he has one greatest attribute. Namely, the god of the Rainy season!"

The air was filled with hundred, if not thousands of golden swords, swords that was still increasing as he kept chanting.

"In the land of the Middle East where the dry and rainy season are distinct and separate, 'storms' only appear during the rainy season. Accompanied by the raging wind of cyclones and land sinking by the pouring rain, lightning descends from the sky. Nevertheless, because storms bring rainwater, without the benefits brought by this water, plants and animals, even humans would fail to survive. Though your 'storms' causes the death of many, it is also the nourishment of life!"

"Those words you speak are indeed true. I am the storm of the rainy season. The god who embodies both blessing and destruction from the sky." Melqart replied to the words Godou had spoken about his identity. His club started to once again gather lightning.

The club that was stuck under Mjolnir turned into wind, making the giant slaying weapon go through it. The winds then gathered in Melqarts free and formed into his club once more. Around it formed violent winds that each one was even stronger than those that had destroyed the White Stallion. He swung the two clubs in rapid succession, sending powerful gust of winds and devastating lightning bolts.

But each one of them was cut down by the swords that flew forwards to meet them, the two attacks negating eachother. He needed to make it stronger. He needed to make it sharper.

"The gods of the land and the sea worshiped by farmers who lived in villages and towns, were indeed symbolized by the sacred beast, the Dragon. Hence Baal, and equivalently Melqart, is the hunter of dragons!"

The rain of swords started to push back the bolts of lightning and gusts of winds, getting closer to Melqart, or Baal as the swords was getting sharper by each word that Godou spoke.

"Becoming the enemy of settled peoples, you took the appearance of a savage giant who vanquished dragons. Thereafter, the coarse savage began ruling as King, as tyrannical as the storms. This is Baal, or in other words, Melqart's true nature!"

The rain of swords grew in intensity as the amount of blades that flew through the air increased, becoming hundreds of golden beams of light before colliding with the winds and lightning cutting right through them, quickly closing the distance between them and Melqart.

"That cursed sword. No matter how many times I see it, is it still able to irk me to no end." Melqart hissed as he saw the blades getting closer and closer. A small smirk tugged on his lips as he saw the approaching weapons. He stopped his own attack for a moment, proceeding to jump over the blades, quickly covering the distance between him and his attacker. Now standing right in front of the slayer of Verethragna lifted he Ayamari and swung it downwards.

Godou swung the Golden sword in his hands towards the approaching club, stopping it's descent. But the force from the blow caused his feet to sink deeply into the ground. He wasn't given any time to react before Melqart's other club came in by the side, towards his exposed flank. But before it could hit was it stopped by another one of Dante's flame swords, resulting in an explosion that dispelled all of the blows force, together with the swords destruction as its objective was completed.

That gave Godou enough time to push away Melqart's weapon, before sending a second volley of swords towards the giant, forcing him to quickly retract his clubs to block them. But as he continued to block the unending assault, failed he to notice as all the other blades that still hadn't moved started to change position. They cut off any escape routes that the Heretic god could possibly take, creating a dome of golden swords. As Godou ended his assault, noticed Melqart the golden dome looking around himself to see that he was trapped. All swords then turned so that their pointy edges was all turned directly towards him.

"It's over Melqart. You have nowhere to run!" Godou proclaimed, making the giant snap his attention back to the youngest god slayer. "I've won!"

The swords making up the dome all shot towards the giant simultaneously, quickly closing the distance between them and the Mesopotamian King.

Melqart couldn't block the attack completely, just block the majority that went for his front with his clubs, making sure that they wouldn't strike any vital parts. But the rest of the blade struck him without any hindrance, piercing the majority of his body from head to toe. The wind and electricity that covered his clubs disappeared as his Authority to control the elements of the storm was severed.

He dropped his clubs, letting them sink into the sand as his arms dropped limply to his sides. His head hung low, making it hard to see his face. It got silent as the storm suddenly died down. No more rumbling of thunder, no rustling from the leaves, not even any sound from the earlier raindrops. Godou eased as he saw the giants unmoving body, letting his sword drop to his side as he saw that he had won.

Dante had once again closed his eyes, trying to focus his hearing. But this time wasn't he focusing on his surroundings, but further out, towards the ocean. He was searching for a distinctive sound, but he couldn't find it. But soon caught a sound his attention. It sounded like the low rumble of thunder, had the lightning already returned?

But as he opened his eyes saw he that Melqart was chuckling, which appeared to be the source of the noise. It then turned into a fullblown laughter, echoing into the distant like several thunder claps. His body tensed and all the sword that had pierced his body slowly slide out of his body, leaving several stab wounds where the blades had pierced him.

"Do you really think I will just let it end like that? This is the most fun I have had in centuries, and I won't let it end until I can no longer fight!" he called out as he done forcing every last blade out of his body. The golden blade in Godou's hand dissolved into golden particles, taking the other swords with it. The Golden sword was used up.

"I think I will make this a little more interesting." Melart suddenly proclaimed, and his body seemed to shrink. They just looked on as he soon disappeared over the edge as he kept shrinking. The two god slayer just stood there and waited for something to happen.

A figure then jumped over the edge, landing right in front of them. It was clearly Melqart, but instead of his giant form was he instead just about two meters tall. While it was still tall, had it lost the same impact as his other size had. His body was riddled with scars, much likely the wounds that he had been given just recently. He had most likely forced them to heal quicker with magical energy.

But the most eye catching detail with him for the moment was the object he held in his right hand. A solid lump of iron, with several runes scribbled into its sides. It was connected with a one hand handle that wrapped in black leather, before ending in an iron pommel. The object in his hand was nothing less than Mjolnir, a part of Dante's Weapons of Thunder Authority.

Giving them no time to react, went Melqart on the offensive. He covered the distance between him and Godou in less than a second, hammer over head, ready to strike. He swung down, but before it could hit Godou had it been caught in the hands of Dante. He gritted his teeth as he felt the entire force of his own weapon collide with the palm of his hand, threatening to break all the bones residing inside. The only thing stopping that from happening being the change to his arm from his Authority. It didn't give his arms near indestructibility like Flames of Rage, but it made them very resistant to damage.

He pushed away the hammer, forcing Melqart to take a step back by the sudden force. But he just swung the hammer one more time, his new stance not hindering his assault. Dante raised his other hand to block the attack, feeling the iron in the palm of his hand took he a grip around the head of Mjolnir. He felt the effect of the hammer slowly fill his body, but because he wasn't holding the weapon by the handle would it take awhile for him to reach its full strength. That was time that Melqart wouldn't allow him to have.

He started spinning the club around in a big circle. Lifting the blonde boy of the ground as he spun faster and faster, making it progressively harder to keep a grip on the godly weapon. Before he knew it, slipped his fingers of the hammers edges and he was flung through the air before hitting the ground hard enough to create a small crater. He didn't miss a beat as he jumped over to him. Hammer raised over head for a devastating attack.

But before he was within striking range, became the club unbelievably heavy. Causing it to crash straight down, as if gravity itself had gotten heavier. Melqart tried to lift the hammer, but it was stuck in that one spot, refusing to move no matter how much strength he poured into his attempt at lifting the hammer.

He then stopped as a specific sound reached his ears. The sound of a bullet entering a chamber. He looked over at where the sound had originated from, a smile tugging at his lips as he saw what had caused the noise.

"It looks like you're getting more and more serious the further this fight progresses." was Melqarts comment as he saw the object that had caused the sound.

In Dante's right hand was the same gun he had used to battle Verethragna, it's chamber loaded with a single round and hammer pulled back, ready to be fired at it's target. His gaze had hardened and was filled with killing intent, as if Flames of Rage was active. His index finger right on the trigger, but wasn't pulling it. His skin had returned to normal, indicating that his latest Authority had been used up.

"All Father. Prisoned. King. War, Storms and Lightning"

As he spoke those words started the bullet to react, hungrily absorbing out of Dante's magical power. Continuing to drain him as he continued with the Words of Power.

"The god you seek is Baal, also known as Melqart, the Mesopotamian god of Storms. Feed yourself with his power and swallow your target!" He ordered his bullet just before pulling the trigger, sending the projectile towards the god at high speed.

Melqart stretched out his hand in front of it's path. But he wouldn't let it hit him that easily.

Out of the palm of his outstretched hand flew a black mass towards the bullet, swallowing it whole. It then flew out over the area, obscuring Dante and Godou's vision. A constant buzzing being made from the creatures that made the mass, locusts. Millions if not billions of locusts was flying around him, encasing him in a dome much like Godou had done to the god before.

He looked around, but it became impossible for Dante to know of Melqarts position through the ever moving wall. He let out a hiss as a sudden jolt of pain shot up his right arm. He looked down and saw a fresh cut in the center of his hand that had been made by one of the locusts. It was neither very deep or long, but it was the fact that had been formed by just one locust's that put him on edge. Images of what would happen if all of them suddenly attacked flooded his mind.

But with those thoughts also came an idea. He put the gun back from where he had pulled it out, a hidden gun holster that was on the inside of his shirt by his right side, before walking towards one side of the dome that was surrounding him.

Without hesitation but he his arm into the middle of the swarm. He could immediately feel them starting to strip his arm of flesh as their mouths quickly got to work. Dante gritted his teeth at the pain in his arm became greater and greater, quickly becoming unbearable as the small divine beasts kept biting into his arm.

After bearing the pain for almost an entire minute pulled he out his arm, showing how damaged it had gotten by the locusts. His fingers had lost most of its skin and flesh, showing the white of his bones underneath. His arm had several holes in it, some bigger than others. The damage he had put his own body through was great, but it was a price he was willing to pay for the use of his Authority.

"Sword of Unity, Appear before me!"

A wave of magical energy coursed through his body before exiting the palm of his right hand, taking the form of a physical object. It was a sword, its blade was bulky but still carried a sharp edge. Several lines ran through the blade, like several stones had been put next to each other like a puzzle to form the blade before being melded together. It was grey in color, but not the same kind of shade as Mjolnir was, but a lighter, almost white shade of grey. The crossguard was made of covered in brass giving it a golden tint. The crossguard itself was formed like flames that spread to the right and left side of the blade. The handle was much like the handle of Mjolnir, wrapped in black leather before ending in a simple pummel.

The wounds that the divine beasts had made on his arm instantly started to heal as the swords effect spread in his body. Muscles, nerves and tendons quickly grew back too his fingers, before being covered in a layer of skin. While those injuries was healing very fast, wasn't it the same for the rest of his arm. It was visible that it was restoring his arm back to its primary state. But when compared to the pace his fingers was healing, was it very much slower.

He swung the sword, causing sparks of lightning to fly from the edge of the blade towards the swarm around him. Even though they were divine beast, each and every one of them, were they still bugs. They all feel to the ground dead. Their insides had burnt up, making it impossible for them to stay alive. They all fell to the ground lifeless, not even a twitch coming from them.

Melqart looked over at him, shocked that he had came out earlier than he had expected. Afterall Dante hadn't been inside for more than two minutes. Godou and Erica was surrounded by a long silver chain that spiraled around the two, acting as a shield against the locusts. While it looked like the blonde knight had it under control, knew the blonde god slayer that she would only be able to hold it for another minute at best.

Dante sped towards Melqart, sword raising as the distance between the two of them was disappearing. Melqart raised his fists as that was the only weapon he had at him at the moment. They swung their respective weapons as they were inside each others range. Dante's sword cut deeply into Melqart's hand, leaving a long gash that almost split his right hand in two down the middle. But even with the blade stuck in his hand, kept Melqart attacking, sending a left hook towards his opponent with enough strength to easily shatter bone.

Dante retracted his sword and jumped back, away from the bone crushing blow. They both of them stood still, eyeing their opponent for any opening or weak spot.

Melqart was the first one to go on the offensive again, closing the small distance between the two with long strides. His left hand was clenched into a fist, carrying the same amount of force as the one he had tried to land on the older god slayer just a moment ago. He sent his fist forward, aiming for the boy's chest. But before it could connect was it meet with the flat of the blade in his hands, he didn't possess enough strength to stop the attack, just enough to make sure that Ukonvasara wouldn't fly out of his grip as he blocked the attack.

He was sent flying through the air before landing on his feet a couple meters away from Melqart. He looked down at the blade, before looking over at Melqart, or more specifically, his right hand. The wound that was splitting his hand in two halfway, hadn't healed and was letting out fresh drops of blood. He then looked over at Mjolnir, it was still out of his reach, even when they had faced each other face to face. That left him with one option if he wanted to turn the tides of battle in their favor.

He turned around and started running towards where he had left the blonde knight and his fellow god slayer. They were still surrounded by a swarm of locusts, but they had noticeably declined in numbers since he saw them last time. With one swing of his sword fell they all to the ground, dead by the electric shock. But he didn't stop and kept running towards them, his sword now raised to perform a thrust. Erica tried to stop him as he closed the distance between them.

But abruptly stopped as their eyes meet, causing her to flinch for just a moment, but enough time for him to run past her towards Godou. With a single thrust towards the younger boy went it through his chest, missing his heart. Godou looked down at the sword that had pierced his body, shock eminent on his face. He then looked up at the one responsible for the wound.

"Wh-What are you doing, Dante?" he asked, before letting a grunt of pain as the weapon was pulled out of his body and stabbed into the ground. Dante just looked up at Godou, his eyes now missing what had caused Erica to flinch, before answering.

"I think it is about time that we put an end to this fight."

With those words understood he what Dante had intended by attacking him. He felt the Camel respond to the wound he had been given, only needing to speak its incantation for it to activate. He gave a nod as he responded. "Yeah, I agree. It's time to end this once and for all!"

"For I am gallant, and what I display is the sigil of the fierce Camel!"

The pain in his chest subsided as the wound started to slowly close, and he felt his legs being filled to the brim with power and his mind was filled with knowledge that only a professional martial artist possessed in any other case.

As he dashed forward, cracked the ground that was underneath him by the power of his legs as, they sent him flying towards the bearded god. Melqart wasn't able to fully react as the Japanese Campione came towards him at high speed, rising his right hand on reflex to block the incoming foot, only to let out a sharp hiss as a powerful wave of pain shoot from his wound.

Distracted by the sudden wave of pain, failed he to notice as Godou's other foot flew towards the side of his head with the full force of the Camel. The kick connected and Melqart flew to the side before landing onto his back. He opened his eyes just to see the other god slayer descend towards him, with his sword pointed downwards. The god of Storms rolled out of the way of the swords path, making strike the ground instead of him. He quickly jumped back onto his feet and launched a fist towards his enemy.

As the fist connected, felt he as the bones inside Dante's arm shifted and snapped as they broke, before sending Dante flying by the force from his attack. But even then was he attacked, as the Japanese Campione came flying through the air, before turning midair so that his legs was directed towards the god. Before Melqart was even able to register what was happening, felt he a sudden pain as the legs connected with his stomach, sending him back.

Even as he felt that his defeat got closer and closer, couldn't he help but smile. Why wouldn't he be? He was currently having the best fight of his entire life. He actually understood why Verethragna had been so happy in his last moments. He looked towards his two opponents, verifying their positions.

Godou was close by the hammer, just a couple of feets distance away from him, while Dante had flown several meter from the punch and was currently walking towards them. But that was good, he had a suspicion about how the hammer worked, and as far as he knew hadn't the younger boy unlocked the Authority to let him use it.

Because of that was he shocked by the boys course of action. He walked over to the hammer and took a grip around its handle, before looking over at him.

"This time Melqart, I will truly end this!" he proclaimed, his grip around the hammer's handle tightening. He could feel something inside him starting to resonate with the godly weapon, small sparks of magic going through his arm before entering the handle. The weight that usually held it in place starting to disappear. He lifted it over his head, but as he did sunk he into the ground. He might be to lift it, but that was only momentarily. If he didn't let to go of the weapon within a certain amount of time would he without doubt not be able to hold Mjolnir.

So he threw it. Mjolnir might be seen as a powerful weapon in close range, but it real strength appeared when it was thrown. The hammer spun through the air, flying like a wheel of death towards the god. Lightning starting to encircle the Weapon of Thunder as it got closer and closer to Melqart, taking the shape of something akin to a circular saw.

In response to the incoming attack raised Melqart up both of his arms in front of him, hoping that it would help him survive the approaching attack. But as soon as the saw blade of electricity touched his arms, cut it right through and kept going into the god's body. Melqart wasn't able to move from his position as the hammer got closer and closer. As he saw the hammer closing in, knew he that it was the end for him. But even so, couldn't he help but smile as memories of the battle played out before his eyes. In all the battles he had ever battled felt this like the best one of them all.

His whole body suddenly relaxed, letting the rest of the hammer hit him without any resistance, after all was there no reason for this battle to continue any further. As the the weapon had passed through his body was there now a giant hole where it had struck him. There was no way that he would be alive for much longer. In fact was it impressive that he was still alive, even if just barely. He let out a low chuckle, indicating that he was still alive. He looked down at the wound, before letting his eyes shift over to the one that had struck him. Their eyes meet, and at the contact spread a smile over Melqarts face.

"That was impressive god slayer. You managed to strike me down with a weapon you shouldn't even be able to move." that piece of information caused Godou to widen his eyes as he understood that the god of Storms have understood how Mjolnir had worked. But before he thought more about it continued Melqart. "I hereby grant you one of my Authorities, and hope that my power will aid you well in the future!"

Before Godou could even begin to utter a word had Melqarts body already began to fall to the ground, and before his back even touched it, had his entire body disintegrated, leaving nothing behind. Seeing as the threat was gone fell Godou the ground himself, landing on his back with a thud. He had done it, he had defeated Melqart and saved the island from destruction.

As he laid sprawled over the ground felt he the feeling of something entering his chest. Not like Dante's sword had done a couple of minutes ago, but the same as when he had defeated Verethragna.

"Good job Godou. I'll take care of the rest."

He heard Dante say suddenly, making him open his eyes to look over at the blond brown teen, noticing that Erica had at some point walked over to him. She too looked over him, confusion noticeable on her face. But the teen they were looking at didn't even recognize their stares as he kept walking closer to the edge, his sword disappearing in blue flakes of light as it's effect ended.

"What are you meaning Dante?" Erica asked him, unsure of what he was talking about. Melqart was supposed to be dead, so there wasn't anything left to take care about, right?

"Look over there." was the only answer the older god slayer gave to the two of them, and they both did as they were told. Both of them widening their eyes in realisation at what it was he was pointing at.

It was a colossal wall of water, bigger than any wave imaginable. It was easily a giant even by tsunami standards. It was more than big enough to swallow the entire island and leave nothing behind after it. Godou tried to stand at the sight of the wave, ready to try to stop it, but fell down as the strength in his legs was completely gone.

"I told you that I will take care of the rest, so take it easy." Dante said, but this time it didn't sound like a request but as an order. He stood just by the edge now, his toes now being exactly where it plunged down towards the water, if there had been any at least. He closed his eyes as he started to focus on the Authority he needed to use for this task. The strongest weapon his Weapons of Thunder could give him. All its restrictions had been completed and it was waiting for him to speak its incantation.

"Flames that brings life, and Lightning that carries destruction, come down and become one!" he spoke the first part of the incantation, his words carrying more power than usual. The clouds overhead seemed to react to his words as they started going in circles just over him.

"Come down from sky to form the strongest Weapon of Thunder!" he chanted, lightning now starting to jump between clouds. But Dante kept his gaze focused at the tsunami that came closer and closer.

"Weapon of Indra, weapon of *****, the lightning and the sun, I command you to strike down this force of destruction!" in the center of the clouds started rays of light to shine through as the sun had appeared a third time. A spear of flames shoot down from the clouds, followed by hundreds of lightning bolts. As they reached Dantes out stretched hand compacted they into a single arrow. The shaft of it was blue with a golden string going around it, before ending by the arrow head that was of the same color. The feathers was red for reasons unknown to the two bystanders.

He nocked the arrow to a silver bow that had appeared in left hand. Pulling the arrow back until the arrow was right next to his face, finished he the incantation. "Now fly, arrow of Indra and slay this evil, ****** ******!"

With those last words, released he the arrow, sending it flying towards the wave. It was still miles away from where Dante was standing, but it covered that distance in less than three seconds, colliding with the huge mass of water at high speed.

As the two forces connected with each other was the wave cleaved right at the middle, from top to bottom. And at the same time was there a distortion, robbing the wave of all its power, making it crash down on itself. Instead of going towards the island like a wave of destruction, was it now a calm stream, slowly returning to how it once were.

Both Erica and Godou looked at Dante in disbelief. He had just cleaved through that wave like a hot knife through butter, and with one Authority noless. Godou wasn't really sure if he also could do that as he hadn't unlocked all of Verethragnas Authorities yet, and still had to find out what he got from Melqart.

He saw Dante say something but couldn't hear what he said. Black spots was dancing in his vision as his consciousness was quickly fading, making it harder to keep himself awake. But no matter how hard he struggled against it kept he sinking into unconsciousness. But it was all in vain as he in the end blacked out, leaving the other two alone in whatever they had started to talk about.

* * *

Used Authorities

Godou.

 **The Raptor** \- Gives Godou godspeed, but will get incredible chest pain that worsen the longer he uses it. It can be activated by either chant the incantation, or it will activate itself when an attack aiming for him exceeds a certain speed.

 **Incantation** : Fear of the winged, both the evil and the powerful, all shall fear I who hold these feathered wings. My wings will bring you curse and just desserts!

 **The Boar -** Summons a boar Divine beast that is strong enough to even hurt and kill Heretic gods. The drawback is that it must be aimed at something of great size, like a building or bigger Heretic gods.

 **Incantation** : May his spine be crushed; may his bones be broken, his tendons torn, his hair ripped from his skull; may his blood, spilled over the earth, be churned into a bloody froth. I shall become one who buries fangs into the sinner's flesh, that the will of the Lord be followed: Thou shalt be purged!"

 **The Warrior** \- Gives Godou the ability create countless golden swords that are able to cut through a gods divinity, negating their powers. For him to be able to use this Authority must he have a vast amount of knowledge about the god that he wants to target, as it becomes stronger the more of the gods history he reveals.

 **Incantation** : Both eloquent and powerful. I am the sword of wisdom, that which tears foes apart. I am the strongest, for I am the one holding all victory in my hands. I shall smash through all enemies in my way!

Dante.

 **Blade of the Devil Giant** \- This makes any sword that is in Dantes hands turn into a powerful attack, but after it is used even once will it be destroyed. The only weapons that could be swung more than one time being divine swords, but even they have a limit before they break by the Authority. The black parts of his arms also gets a boost in durability, but aren't uncut able as the Flames of Rage.

 **Incantation** :Fires that is a part of the Creation, I am your Ruler and Champion, guarding your entrance until the times of the End, where we will engulf the World. Fill my weapon with your flames and become the sword that can cut down all! I am the Lord of Fire, for I am the Lord of Muspelheim!

 **Weapons of Thunder, Ukonvasara** \- A part of the Weapons of Thunder, and the sword of the god Ukko. This sword is capable of healing the wounds of Dante or the wounds of those loyal to him. He isn't able to heal both at the same time. The restriction being that either him or someone close to him gets injured. Like the other Weapons of Thunder can anybody wield it as long as they have an affinity with lightning.

 **Incantation** : Sword of Unity, Appear before me!


	6. Chapter 6

**This chapter will be one of the shorter ones and will be more of a buildup for future chapters. There will also be some character develop ment**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Campione or any of its characters. I only own my OC's.**

 **Please review or PM me if you have any ideas or tips.**

 **Also wanted I to inform all that read this that I have created an Amino for Campione and would be very happy if you joined.**

* * *

Chapter 6

"Of all the places you had to send me to would it of course be your headquarters." Dante grumbled to his companion on this expedition as they made their way through the desert. Both of them was walking by foot, as animals often went into a wild panic as soon as they got close to the headquarter building.

"They told me that my brother wanted to talk with you personally. They also wanted to discuss your thoughts on the youngest Campione." Ebony informed as she walked behind her Lord. She was dressed in pretty much the same kind of clothes as when she had shown herself by his mother's house. The only one of them that was wearing something different since last time they meet was Dante.

He had changed his long sleeved black shirt for a white one with shorter sleeves, and he had also changed his jeans for a pair of shorts. He may be a god slayer, but when he traveled somewhere wanted he to be comfortable during the trip. That was another thing that his father had taught him, and it was something that both he and Maria followed to the last letter.

"Well that's good. I actually wanted to talk with your brother." he acknowledged as he looked up towards the sky. There was not a single cloud that could bring them any shade. And the sun was right over them, constantly shining warm rays of light on them. He let out a sigh before he started talking again. "But of all times to have a meeting had it to be this week. You know how rarely I see my grandpa, and this was the only week he was able to meet us."

"I am well aware of that and I am very sorry for taking away that opportunity from you." she apologized, even bowing a little as they kept walking "But they told me that they wanted you over there as soon as possible."

He already knew that as she had told him that on their plane ride to Cairo. He knew that he could have just ordered them to put it on hold. But when it regarded Ebony's brother wasn't it a good thing to take too long, as he might just have plunged to deep into insanity if he waited for too long. So the best option was to do it as soon as possible. He might also be able to tell him more about the future.

As he stumbled on that specific thought couldn't he help but stop for a moment. He looked towards the horizon, but his gaze didn't focus in on something specific as his mind was suddenly somewhere else.

'The future huh.' he didn't understand it sometimes. He possessed the eye of Odin from his One eyed Wanderer Authority. But instead of showing him the future like you would expect, showed it him only timelines where he wasn't involved. It could be that he hadn't been born, or where he hadn't interacted with the person he saw the future of. But there was another reason why he had started to think to himself. 'Sometimes I can't help but agree that we are two sides of the same coin.'

"Is something the matter my Lord?" Ebony asked, slightly concerned that he had suddenly stopped walking.

Dante shook his head. "No. It's nothing." He took a couple steps forward before halting one more time. He then turned around and walked over to the purple haired girl.

She looked up at him in confusion at his action. But that was soon replaced by embarrassment as he lifted her into his arms bridal style. She tried to protest against what was going on, but Dante ignored it.

"I will accept pain in my search for answers. I will accept hanging outside the world in my search for knowledge. Now appear before me, the power of knowledge and I shall bear this pain."

As she heard him chant the incantation understood she what he was about to do, only to have her fears confirmed at his next question.

"Hey Ebony." he started, his eyes focusing on her. He then looked forward and asked the question that she didn't want to hear. "Do you think I can make it to the base in one jump?"

She couldn't believe that he had just asked her that like it was a normal thing. For him it might be, but she was a mortal, if something went wrong would she be the one to pay the price. Even if the chances were slim, where they still there.

Runes of the usual silver appeared in the air, floating around his legs. With a command of his mind was they turned into liquid and spread over his legs as a second layer of skin. But even as the entirety of his legs was covered in the silvery substance, kept he to create runes. He kept going until he had formed entire pieces of what reminded of the leg part of a suit of armor.

His legs was filled with more power than he had even used to boost himself with during his fight with Melqart. He crouched as he got ready to jump, the air around his legs starting to shake from the heat they produced. And as he stretched out his legs, were they sent flying through the air. The only trace of them having been there being the large pit that was created by him jumping, and the sand the from said pit flying everywhere as if caused by an explosion.

As they finally stopped ascending, couldn't Ebony help but open her eyes and look around. They were currently high above the desert, giving her a perfect overview of their surroundings. There was sand as long as she could see, only changing as a oasis sprouted up from the otherwise barren wasteland. After going through the air for about a minute, could she see the Nile getting into view, meaning that they were getting close to the Headquarter building.

They kept 'flying' for another minute or two before they landed, right in front of a building that was just 3 kilometers from the Nile. The resulting force from their landing caused sand to be kicked up into the air in the shape of another explosion.

In front of the buildings entrance stood two guards. Both of them was dressed in a yellow uniform that matched the color of the desert sand under them and the building behind them. The uniform looked like something that usually belonged to the military, and both of them had a sword strapped to their waist together with a gun holster on the opposing side.

One of them seemed to mutter something before throwing a fat wad of money to his fellow guard, who happily caught it with a smile on his face.

Dante put Ebony back down at the ground, and they walked over to the metal door the two guards was standing in front of. They exchanged nods with the two guards before going through the door.

The inside of the building was a pristine white and gave of the distinct smell of cleaning products. And a large amount of people was either walking or running to get to their destination. The two of them just started walking down one of the hallways, going at a normal walking pace as they didn't need to hurry.

They soon reached the door that was their destination. Dante took a firm grip around the handle and opened the metal door. Inside sat a desk made out of oak with delicate carvings, forming several hieroglyphs and portraying Egyptian gods. The desk was littered with papers covering its entire surface, forming a huge mess. Behind the messy desk sat a man in a office chair, slumping backwards against the back cushion as he was clearly on a break. The content of the bottle in his hands quickly emptying as he took big gulps out of the drink.

The man was bigger than most humans Dante knew, as he looked more like a human version of Melqart. He was tall, standing just a couple centimeters under 2 meters. And he was noticeably well trained, as even with his suit on could you still notice his bulging muscles. He had short brown hair that didn't help him from hiding the scars on his scalp. He had only one noticeable red eye, as his left one was hidden by a eyepatch. He had scars on every part of his body that the two could see, that being his hands and his face. But the two of them knew that he had more of them, much more.

The two of them was quite as they waited for the man to say something. The scared man soon put down his now empty bottle and let out an audible sigh, his elbows moving up to the table and resting his head against his hands. He looked up from his hunched position, just so that he could barely see the two that had entered his office. As he saw who had entered was he quick on getting up his feet, and walking over to them.

"Dante, it has been too long." the man welcomed the second youngest Campione as he stretched out one of his hands for a handshake. "How have you been since the last time I saw you?"

At the big mans smile and friendly welcoming couldn't the blonde brown male help but take the bigger mans hand with a smile of his own.

"I have been fine." he replied, shaking the larger man's hand before letting go of it. "So I take it that Fadil has been causing some problems for you" he guessed as his eyes moved away from the man to the wine bottle he had placed on the desk.

The man let out another sigh, but this one sounded even more tired than the first one. He walked back to his desk, sitting down with a huff. "We don't know what happened, but without any warning started he screaming non stop. He didn't stop his constant screaming since two days ago, then yesterday later told he us that he wanted to see you, no explanation whatsoever."

That explained why Ebony had been in a hurry to get him here, knowing that he would see his grandpa in a about a day and halfs time, and that her brother had most likely asked the large man himself.

"Can't be easy being the new leader for an entire organisation." Dante said, his hand moving in a way that told Ebony 'you're dismissed'. She did as she was ordered and exited the room, only pausing for a small bow. She closed the door, leaving two of the most powerful figures in the entire organisation alone.

As he heard the door close walked he over to the desk so that he was standing right in front of it. The room was devoid of any other furniture than the desk. So he retorted to create one of his own with his runes.

"So tell me Jabari, what do you think caused him to suddenly scream?" he said as he sat down in front of the addressed man. "As you're the one that put him through the procedure should you have some kind of idea."

Jabari seemed to slump further into his seat at the mentioning of the crazed boys condition. He was silent for a moment, before letting out third sigh, this one just as tired as the last one. "I honestly don't know. Out of all the subjects that has read the Book of Thoth, is he the most successful. All the data on what happens after reading it is from him."

"So in other words, you have no idea." the younger man concluded after hearing what he had to say. The big man nodded confirming Dante's words. "Tell me, how many pages were he able to read before he had to stop?"

The scarred man was quiet for a moment, thinking about an answer for the question. "Ten."

Now it was Dante's turn to be silent for a moment. He had seen what Fadil was able to do. He wielded magic powerful enough to even go through a Campione's resistance to magic to a degree. Something that would in other cases need to be an Authority to go through. And he only needed ten pages for that?!

Dante stood up from his chair, Jabari following his action. They didn't need to speak with one another to confirm what they were both about to do. They exited the room and saw Ebony waiting there patiently.

"I take it you're going to see my brother now." she said matter of factly, getting a nod in confirmation from the blonde god slayer.

They walked deeper into the building with the leader of the Red Sands leading their way towards the destination. They walked through several hallways before getting to a staircase leading downwards that didn't have any visible bottom. Without any hesitation kept they walking, descending deeper and deeper underground. After about two minutes of constantly walking down the stairs did they finally reach the end. They entered another hallway that wasn't nearly as long or wide as the ones overground.

At the end of the narrow hallway stood two men guard, both was dressed in similar looking clothes as the guards outside. Except that theirs was red instead of desert yellow. Also something similar to the other guards was that they both had a sword strapped to their hips. But instead of a gun holster on the opposite side, where these two carrying similar looking machine guns. The two men was standing in front of a heavily reinforced door with scanners of different kinds.

As soon as the two men saw the leader of the organisation changed they their stance from an alert, ready for action stance, to standing in attention. Their guns was resting against their shoulders and the barrel was pointing up towards the ceiling.

The three visitors walked past the guards towards the door. The large man put his hand against a hand scanner, eye against an eye scanner and had his face scanned before an opening appeared in the door, showing an entering for a key, and below it a card scanner. He fished up a keyring filled with keys from his pocket and picked out the one that fit the lock. But before he even got to twist it, picked he up the card needed for the scanner. As he inserted it was there a sound of it having been read and accepted without any trouble.

At this signal, turned the man the key and several unlocking sounds resonated through the entirety of the door. Then with a hiss slid the door open, showing an hallway filled with cell doors.

They all entered, leaving the guards to close the ridiculously secure door.

It didn't take them very long to reach the cell where the strongest mage of the Red Sands was waiting. Jabari picked out another key from his keyring and put it in the door. He twisted it, and a panel linked with the handle lit to life.

It asked for a seven digit code, which the eyepatch wearing man was quick to type into the panel. They waited for a bit as the screen read: Verifying code. Please wait.

Then with a pling turned the screen green, and the door was unlocked. On the panel appeared the number ten.

"After you open the door will we only have ten seconds before it will be closed again." Jabari explained as he turned to look at Dante. He nodded, knowing what was waiting for him at the other side.

At the answer he was given opened the scarred man the door, revealing the totally dark room. The next event that happened in just a couple seconds. As the door was opened, charged Dante into the room catching a flying Fadil that had tried to get out of his cell when he saw the chance. As the two boys crashed into each other closed the door behind them, leaving them locked inside the room.

They quickly widened the distance between them, now being a couple meters between them. The tied up man looked over at his guest, the blindfold not seeming to be problem as he greeted him.

"Dante, it has been too long." A smile spread over the purple haired boy's face as he knew who was going to keep him company. He stood back up, his eyes focusing on the god slayer that was hidden behind the fabric that was obscuring his vision. He stretched out his arms, a dull tearing sound coming from his strait jacket as the bindings gave way for his arms. He then reached for the blindfold, tearing it off as he griped its fabric. He looked over at Dante, his deep green eyes focusing in on his guest in the darkness around them, his smile widening as he confirmed the identity of his guest.

Even in his more sane state, was there only small traces of sanity.

"I don't have time with this Fadil. Tell me why you wanted me here." the blonde god slayer ordered, his patience quickly running out. There wasn't any light in the room, but he could still see the young man even in this darkness. And his expression was getting on his nerves.

The green eyed mage didn't posses the same vision as his guest, but was fully aware of the blondes position. To be honest could he still be wearing the blindfold and still be aware of Dante's location.

The insane man sat back down at the ground. "You upset the strings of fate."

Dante's eyes widened at that single sentence that went through the mage's lips. 'I upset the strings of fate, what do he mean?'

"I take it that your silence means that you don't understand what I'm talking about." the smile that had been an perpetual trait for his insane state had completely disappeared. Instead was he looking down at the ground his face obscured by his uncut bangs. "I mean that your actions have caused the strings of fate move in a new direction."

So he had basically created a new timeline was what he got from the young man's explanation. But that wasn't anything new. New timelines was created all the time, and the differences wasn't that big in most cases. There was of course parallel universes that had bigger differences than others, but those had been developed after a major event in history played out a little bit different from what we knew. But give something enough time and even the tiniest of changes can have a huge impact.

"That isn't a news if you thought that." Dante responded. He had some understanding when it came to the theory regarding parallel universes. "For every possibility exist there another future. We are the ones that choose of we want to be apart of it."

The purple haired man was absolutely silent, making the god slayer think that he didn't have anything to respond with. But that thought was crushed as soon as the insane suddenly started laughing. He was laughing as if he had just heard the world funniest story right now, holding his stomach as it started hurting from all the laughter.

But he abruptly stopped laughing. Not needing any time to recover from his fit of laughter, as if it had never happened to begin with. His expression was serious now, no hint of his insanity was there.

"Yes, but that only regards science. The gods doesn't care about what science think."

"What do you mean?" the blonde asked the older man.

"There is a reason that Campione's are able to defy fate, even when there aren't any other paths. That is because gods have a similar trait. They aren't bound to appear in one timeline just because a couple events happened or not. I have looked through time several times, and sometimes when I look into a timeline I have already seen another time, will I see some changes. It can be a god that decided to appear and another one that didn't. They can much like you and your friend go against what is supposed to be bound to happen." He had at sometime throughout his explanation stood up and started walking around the room, circling Dante like a predator would often do around its prey.

Except that this prey could easily kill the predator if it wanted to.

"So no matter what won't we be able to prepare for what gods may appear." the brown blonde concluded. If he had understood what Fadil had told him was this most likely case. Not even his eye or Fadil would be able to tell what god would appear or not.

"Not exactly." the green eyed man replied "There are something that hasn't changed, and some gods after appearing stayed, not disappearing no matter how much time it had been since I last checked it."

"So we can still monitor which gods will appear, and which will not." Dante summarized. That still left them with the upper hand. Being able to know when a god and their identity before they manifested was a huge advantage.

The otherwise insane man walked over to his mattress, picking up his journal. Dante could smell the heavy air of iron that hung around that book. It had developed over time from Fadils habit of writing in his own blood.

"I have names of some gods that might appear." the strongest mage of the Red Sands explained as he walked back and handed the blonde Campione the journal.

He flipped forward to the page that had last been written on. True to his words, were several names scribbled down on the yellowed page.

'So these are the gods that will appear' he thought as his eyes traveled further and further down the page. He flipped to the next one thinking that there would be a continuation. But instead found he a empty page that was tinted a slight red. 'Weird. There are plenty of traces telling me that he have written here, but I can't figure out what.'

He shifted his attention away from the old journal onto its owner. He was currently sitting down at his mattress, muttering incomprehensibly. It almost sounded like he was arguing with himself, as if he didn't get along with himself. The brown blonde boy placed the journal on the ground, seeing as trying to get the maddening man's attention would most likely be a bad idea.

As he got to the door took he up a key of his own. Unlike the one that Jabari had used earlier was this one only able to open from the inside. This worked as a safety measure against the prisoner escaping. If the key used to open from the inside got to far away from the other key, would a pre made spell activate. The spell in question was made using incantations honoring Ra, turning the otherwise harmless key into a mighty explosion of flames. The unfortunate person that took the key would most likely die instantly by the explosion and fire, but the room would be completely fine, not counting the burn marks.

The door opened as he pushed it, filling the room with light. He was greeted by the sight of Jabari and Ebony waiting for him on the other side. But also waiting there were some people he hadn't expected to see.

They were all wearing much like the guards in military looking clothes. But these ones appeared to look like something belonging to some kind of special force team. But instead of either yellow or red, were these soldiers uniform and armor totally black. Each one of them was carrying a machine gun similar to the guards guarding the entrance to the cell complex.

They rushed into the room as soon as Dante had walked out, making sure that the captive was keeping still and quiet as they switched his torn straitjacket with a new one.

He then turned his attention to the leader of the entire organisation. "Isn't she here to perturb me this time?"

Jabari couldn't help but chuckle at the way he asked for the leader of the black clad soldiers whereabouts. He took a breath to stop his chuckles before responding. "No. She is currently stuck with her paperwork. You can thank me for that later." he got quiet for a moment as if hesitating to know what they had talked about. "So what did he tell you?"

"That things will not be as I had anticipated from now on." he said bluntly as he began marching down the hall towards the exit. "The future is no longer as clear as I had thought."

The one eyed man didn't respond. He knew what Dante was going to do. He was going back to Italy to see his grandfather and discuss the recent development. The information regarding Godou Kusanagi could wait.

"Have a safe trip my lord."

Dante halted his step. He looked back at the scarred leader of the Red Sands. Then with a smile. "Thank you Jabari."

A couple minutes later could a meteor of purple be seen shooting through the sky. It wasn't spotted by any of the ones down on the ground as it was still light outside. Only people that was had sensitive senses towards magic knew about its existence.

Later that day as night had fell over the Red Sands Headquarters, sat Fadil silent in his cell. Not even his usual mumbling was heard.

"Hello there young mage." A voice rung out through the strongest mage's cell. He shoot up from his sitting position. He hadn't noticed anyone entering and he didn't recognise the voice. That was supposed to be impossible, as no one without permission should be able to access his cell, and he knew all people that were allowed as they are very few.

The person the voice belonged to seemed the distress the mage was feeling based on it's next words. "Take it easy young one. I'm not here to hurt you."

He wouldn't take it easy. Especially not when a complete stranger somehow managed to get inside his cell through unknown means. "Mother of venom, goddess of the striking stinger. Strike those that wish to harm me!"

A green orb of magic formed in front of the young man before it flew towards it target in the dark.

He waited for a moment, to see if the intruder was still alive. He soon concluded that he had killed the unknown trespasser.

"That was a nice display of power young mage. Or at least it would have been had you not been that weak." the owner of the voice spoke again. He could hear that was clearly a man this time.

Fadil couldn't believe it. That blast would kill any human instantly. And gods would be unable to move for awhile if they got hit by that. What was this man?

He didn't dwell on that much more as he felt his blindfold being taken off of him. But instead of meeting total darkness as he opened his eyes saw he light. His room was illuminated by a ball of white light that levitated in the air. And right in front of him was a figure covered by a cape. The only features available to the mage was the lower part of the man's face and his white hair.

The figure smiled. "Hello there Fadil."

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 **Hope you liked it.**

 **So who was this new figure? If you have any guess be sure to leave it in the review or in a PM.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry for taking so long to post this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Campione or any of its characters. I only own my OC's**

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Chapter 7

After having flown on the back of Sleipnir for a while could Dante see the island of Sardinia close in behind the clouds. The speed at which the godly horse was capable of sprinting at having made the trip back a lot shorter than by plane.

He was going through all the information he had gotten during his time Red Sands one last time, memorising everything necessary. There wasn't that big of a difference when it came to what time of day it was between Italy and Egypt. There was only an hour's time difference, with Italy being behind.

As soon as he got exactly above his mother's house ordered he the eight legged horse to dive. The godly horse of war changed it's course immediately, going from running straight to a nosedive, it's hofs finding a grip where there should be none as it began its descent.

Just as they were about to collide with the ground stopped Sleipnir, a wave of air going over the ground, kicking up dust, from it's sudden loss of momentum. It placed its eight hofs securely on the ground before it's master jumped off.

Dante's eyes moved around as he surveyed the area, taking in the apparent lack of people. This wasn't something weird in most cases, as Lucrezia's repetition as a witch was widespread over the island. The reason he found it weird was because his grandfather was visiting, and he always brought some of his men with him whenever he visited. There had never been an exception, so why start now?

"Wait here." he ordered his gray furred stallion, placing his hand on its muzzle. As he walked over to the house could he see that a note hanging on the door, tearing it off as he reached it, and without delay started he to read through it.

It told him that his grandfather had a meeting to attend, and had instead had some of his men escort his sister and mother to his headquarter. So in summary: they were in Rome.

With a slight sigh turned Dante around and walked back to Sleipnir, the gray stallion waiting patiently for its master.

"Sorry Sleipnir. It seems like you will have to wait just a little longer." he apologized to the majestic stallion as he began stroking its head. The former horse of Odin seemed to accept his masters apology as it let out a snort as its own form of a reply.

The godslayer smiled at his animal partner's understanding. But that still left him with one more thing to take care off. How would they get there without being spotted?

They had said in their letter that they would most likely be waiting for him and his grandfather by the Colosseum, making it easier for him to find it even when high up. But that didn't take care of the fact that he traveled with a eight legged steed that runs in the air, several times the speed of sound. So even if they didn't spot Sleipnir, how unlikely that now was, would they still be alarmed by the sonicboom.

And jumping off the gray steed high up in the air might take care of Sleipnir being spotted. But instead would he need a way of hiding himself during the fall. And seeing as he didn't possess something like that, was that option out of the question.

That left him with one option.

But for that would he need some equipment. The only question was if there was any or not. He looked over towards the house one more time, having a feeling that what he needed might be inside.

"I think father left some of his old stuff somewhere in the house." Dante mused to himself as he went through everything he needed inside his head.

Meanwhile in Rome

Erica couldn't help but have the feeling a bit crossed over the current situation. The most of her plan had worked out like she wanted until right now. She had contacted Godou yesterday and had been able in persuading him to fly back to Italy, she had paid for the trip of course.

He had called her not too long ago that he had meetup with Arianna at the Leonardo da Vinci airport and was either driving here right now, or had they already reached Rome.

She had planned it out perfectly, as she knew that there would be a meeting regarding the Gorgoneion. But there had been rogue element in her plan.

Seeing as the House of Savoy was currently under remodeling, needed they another location to discuss this matter. They had originally settled with a luxurious room at a high class hotel, but then had they gotten a message with a deal that was something they couldn't exactly say no to.

They would each and every one of them be transported to their new location of discussion. The new location was at one of the bigger and more luxurious mansions by the outskirts of Rome. While there would any possibility of magic getting out into the public be absolutely zero, as every employer in the mansion already knew about magic.

The only form of payment the person calling them wanted was to be apart of the discussion.

Now had this been anybody else had they of course declined the offer. But the person that had called them was the current leader of the Drago Familia: Fausto re Drago.

True to his name was he the fortunate king of dragons. Already at a young age had he saved his father's organisation and established relationships with several mage organisations, stretching far outside the borders of Italy. Later on had he even been able to form a good conjunction with four of the six known Campione's.

These being Sasha Dejanstahl Voban, Luo Hao, Black Prince Alex, and somehow even Madame Aisha.

The first three had been attested to, sometimes by the godslayers themselves, other times by one of the King's closest followers, but with Aisha's constant time traveling was it harder to prove. Only witnesses being able to attest to this. But with the luck Fausto possessed was it very well possible.

With all these achievements had he made the Drago Familia into one of the most powerful magic organisations in the world. So getting a chance to strengthen the bond between their own organisations and his was not something that they wanted to miss out on.

And this had lead to the current scenario.

Inside one of the bigger rooms in the re Drago mansion was herself, the Grand Masters of both Old Dame and Female Wolf, two of the most powerful Knight corps, and there was even the Purple Knight from the Knight corps Capital of Lilies, a Great Knight just like herself.

And of course the man that had called them here.

They were all sitting around a long table made out of oak, Erica and the Purple Knight by one of the long sides, with the two Grand Masters opposite to them. And by the short side that was the farthest from the doors leading into the room was the fortune dragon himself.

"Alright, so let's get this meeting started." Fausto proclaimed, officially starting the meeting. "As of what I could understand so are you disagreeing about to whom we should entrust the Gorgonian. Correct?"

All the other occupants in the room nodded in confirmation.

The Grand Master of Old Dame was the one to speak afterwards. "We have been trying to get in contact with Lord Salvatore, but he won't even give us the time day. It is apparent that he doesn't care about the Gorgonian."

"So what do you propose instead? That we give the artifact to another King to take care of it? Don't you find that shameful" The other Grand Master protested, not liking the idea the Old Dame presented.

"But considering that our Lord won't even take contact with us doesn't give us that many options. The safest choice we have is to try getting another King to help us." the Purple Knight cut in between the two Grand Masters. He waited for a moment before bringing up the prime question that was on everybody's minds. "But what King should we contact?"

"Considering that the Gorgonian was a symbol of a Mother Earth goddess, wouldn't it be too hard to get help from Marquis Voban." Fausto said as he thought of the oldest Campione. Only to contradict himself a moment later. "No, if we contacted him would he most likely use it to attract the goddess towards himself. So asking him for help is out of the question. And I don't want to get in contact with either Luo Hao or Prince Alex after their last attempt at fully recruiting me to their groups."

In this moment saw Erica her opportunity. Everything may not have gone as she had planned, but she wasn't going to let this chance slip by. "There is another King we can ask."

The blonde leader turned his attention towards his fellow blonde and youngest of his guests. He looked at her red dress and her black rose headdress, confirming to himself that she was from the Copper Black Cross. "Is there anyone you have in mind, Erica Blandelli?"

"Yes. I am sure that you have all read the latest report from the Greenwich assembly."

"Of course we have. After the sudden storm on Sardinia a couple days ago couldn't we suspect anything else than either a God or Campione." the Purple Knight replied, leaning against the back of his chair as he did. His eyes then went wide as he understood what the blonde girl was implying. "Wait you're talking about one of those two?!"

At seeing her fellow Great Knight's reaction, appeared a small smile on her lips. "Yes indeed. I have even decided on which one we should get help from. In fact have I already contacted him, and he should be in Rome by now."

This catched the attention of Female Wolf. The Grand Master had noticed that the young Great Knight was talking about one of these unknown King's like she knew them personally.

"If you don't mind, Erica Blandelli, the report states that there was two Kings at the scene. And from what I can understand from what you told us, have you not only confirmed one of their identities, but also appear to be acquainted with this King."

"Yes, his name is Kusanagi Godou, first name last by the way. He was the one that slew both Verethragna and Melqart in a span of three days, resulting in his recent status as a Campione. And the reason I know him is because we meet each other when I was doing an investigation regarding a grimoire that we thought had been stolen."

She explained her meeting with the Japanese Campione, and everything that had lead up to the battle with the two gods, never once mentioning Dante and his involvement. She knew that he was an unknown King to all of the rooms other occupants, at least she thought so, considering that no one had brought up his identity up to this point. As of right now was she fairly certain that she was the only one in this room that knew of the other King's identity.

Something which one of them was quick to notice.

"Excuse me once again miss Blandelli, but you wouldn't happen to know the identity of the other Campione as well. Or maybe I should ask instead, do you care to reveal the identity of the other Campione?"

Her attention returned to the man that had gathered all of them inside his mansion. She had expected Fausto to see through the fact that she was holding back information on him, but she hadn't suspected him to do it in less than teen seconds. He was sharper than she thought.

"It is as you say lord Drago, I am well aware of the other mentioned Campione in the report. Would be weird not to, seeing as I mentioned that I had seen the battle between gods and god slayers first hand." She replied to the old organisation leader. "But he specifically told me not to reveal his identity, if somebody ever asked for it. And seeing as I am nothing more than a human, it is impossible for me to decline his demand" She concluded with a smile, knowing that she had just closed anyway for him to get any information from her.

The fortunate Dragon was silent for a moment, for what reason, Erica didn't know. "Fair enough." He finally said after having been quiet for awhile. He then continued with the reason why they were having this meeting in the first place. "So do you think that he will be able to keep the Gorgonian safe?"

"I have seen him fight first hand, I am fairly certain that with time will he be able to match the other Campiones in strength. So building a relationship with him as soon as possible would be very convenient, would it not?"

"I can't disagree with that." was the response she got from the man. After his response started his fingers to tap against the table in a wave like manner, starting with his little finger, all the way to his index finger, each of them adorned with a golden ring with some kind of gemstone. As they came to an abrupt halt, went everything in the room completely silent, catching the attention of everybody in the room. "You said that with time would he be able to match the other Campione's, so you're telling me that he isn't that strong as of right now."

"He is rather new to the whole thing about being a Demon King, but I promise you that he more than able to watch over the relic." she retorted to the man's accusation. She kept her voice calm and steady, but she was feeling that he was about to turn the discussion in his favor.

"Well if that is the case then I suggest that we will test him, seeing as he has gotten the Diavolo Rossa's favor." the blonde organisation leader proposed, proceeding with their discussion. "He might have your blessing miss Erica, but I won't just take your word for it without seeing it myself, I want to see actions. And seeing as you are keeping possibly vital information away from us, who knows what else you might be hiding."

Erica was once again quick to react. "I promise you that there is nothing else that I'm hiding."

"I believe what you're saying miss Blandelli. But just like Fausto would I want to see this King you speak of in action before we will decide anything." Female Wolf followed up, agreeing with her fellow leader. This was followed with nods from all the other representatives, showing that they were also agreeing with that statement.

"Alright then. So we are all agreeing that we want to see this new Kings strength, but who should we have him to fight?"

It was Purple Knight that had asked the question. They had said that they wanted to see his power, but they had no idea how to do that.

Well, everybody except Erica. She had originally planned it out so that she would be the one to fight Godou, after that they had come to the conclusion of wanting to see him in action. But ever since Fausto had called them here had the chances of her plan being able to take action decreased exponentially. Not only was his influence seen by most as unmatched, except by Campione of course, but he was someone that was used to make business, never letting anything in a discussion escape him.

She had thought that she would have been the one to dominate this debate, but the old Dragon had kept her in a position that he felt comfortable with, making sure that she never had the upperhand.

So she was having a hard time deciding wherever she should speak up or not.

She looked over at the man responsible for her dilemma, her blue eyes meeting his red eyes. Much like her was he looking in her direction, as if waiting for her to say something.

But she kept quiet, waiting to see where he would take the discussion.

No one decided to speak up, as they couldn't think of anyone that they could ask to test the Japanese Campione's strength. They were all people of high standing and power inside their organisations, but when compared to a King, there wasn't even a need for comparing them. A Campione was above humans, no matter for how long one had trained.

"Well then, seeing as no one has any suggestions, I shall take these matters into my own hands." Fausto determined, seeing as no one was about to say anything. "Well then, I think we should see-"

"Wait a moment!"

Before the old organisation leader was able to officially conclude the meeting, had Erica Blandelli cut him off. While it was very rude of her to do so, and would in most other cases severely punished for it. But he was in a good mood today, so he didn't mind.

"Yes, what is it miss Blandelli?" he asked her, not even the smallest hint of his irritation being present in his voice.

"If you wouldn't mind, would it be okay if I was the one to test the King?" she replied to his question.

The old head of the Drago family was quiet for a moment after he was sure that he had heard her right. He then put his hand to his chin as he thought about how to respond to her request.

He let out a small chuckle as he came up with his answer. "Sorry miss Blandelli, but seeing as you are already acquainted with the young King and is very clearly in some kind of relationship with him, I can't allow it."

His tone was calm and steady, but there was a clear show of his authority as he spoke, as no one decided to intervene or contradict any of the words he said. But as he continued, was there something in his voice that she couldn't quite recognise. It wasn't exactly anger or something like that, malice maybe?

"I don't know what you have planned. But if this Campione of yours doesn't show the potential that you say he possess…" he went quiet, letting her figure out the last part of his words herself.

"Are you by any chance threatening me, Fausto?" the blonde beauty asked her fellow blonde after hearing the words that he had just used towards her.

The old man chuckled, deciding to stand up from his seat. "Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. That is for you to decide."

He looked over his guests as he reached his full height, a smile present on his lips as he did. "It has been a pleasure to discuss these matters with you, and would hope to do so in the future as well. Now if you excuse me, have I a couple calls to make. I have prepared transportation for all of you, so no need to worry about that."

The door that they had all entered through opened, with two men in suits and sunglasses entering the room, before standing by the door's edges. All of the guests stood up from their seats and walked out of the door, passing the suit wearing men, leaving them alone with the old organisation leader.

They to exited the room, closing the doors after them to give their leader his privacy. As it had fully closed walked Fausto over to the window and looked out to see the front. Allowing him to observe as his guests was leaving the mansion. All of them was given their own medium length limo as transportation, each one driven by one of his trusted drivers, as to make sure that it wouldn't be his or the organisations fault if something happened to them. And if they did do anything stupid would he throw them to the wolves without a second thought.

As the last of the vehicles left the property pulled he out a phone from one of his pockets. Without looking dialed he the number that lead to one of his organisations members, he needed to prepare for this new Campione's trial.

As this was happening at the re Drago mansion, was a different scenario playing out by the harbour in Fiumicino, a town and commune in the Metropolitan city of Rome.

A young man that looked like he could be in his late teens to his early twenties walked out of what appeared to be an abandoned building. All the years that it had been exposed to the oceans winds showed on the old stone construct, having not been maintained ever since it's last owner left it.

The young man that had walked out was covering his eyes with a pair sunglasses, and was wearing a simple white button up shirt, together with black pants that was kept up with a pair of suspenders of the same color. He appeared to be dusting of a black fedora that usually would be on top of his head, showing the entirety of his messy black hair.

He took a look on his fedora, and felt satisfied with it before placing it back on his head so that it hid the majority of his hair, combing it back a little beforehand.

Just as he was making his way away from the building started his phone to suddenly start vibrating, letting out no sound as he had turned off that function. He pulled it out from his pocket, putting it directly to his ear without bothering to check the caller ID, it wouldn't show him anything anyway.

"Hello." There wasn't a need for him to state his identity, all of the people that had access to his number was only those from his job and his family, none of which would ever loen out their phones.

The voice on the other side of the line started talking, and just like he had expected was it someone that he knew, having recognised the voice as soon as they started talking. The fedora wearing man waiting patiently and quietly while the other person was talking, never attempting to cut off the other person, and listened to everything they had to say.

Only responding as they finished. "Ok, got it." a curt response, but appeared to be enough, as the young man ended the call afterwards. During the time he had been listening to his caller speak had he made it to his car, and was just in the process of buckling his seatbelt before he drove off to the location given to him.

This day was becoming more of hassle than he thought it would be this morning, that was the last time he read his horoscope.

He turned the key and the car jumped to life, without needing to worry about bumping into any cars at the empty road drove he away from the harbour and the abandoned building, making one last call before he got out into traffic.

A couple miles further away was Dante finally fully prepared for his travel towards the mainland, having found the equipment he had been looking for. He was currently sitting on top of Sleipnir, who had the majority of all it's eight legs underwater. They had managed to make it to a rather secluded part of the island so that they wouldn't be spotted, and was now ready to make it to the mainland.

"Remember, you don't have to go too deep, just enough that we won't be spotted easily." Dante told his steed, his body covered in what appeared to be diving equipment. The stallion let out a neigh in confirmation, upon which Dante put on the diving mask that had been in his hands.

With a firm whip of the reins disappeared they in spray of water, the sudden burst of speed from the horse cutting right through the water and sending it flying. The water would be able to conceal them from anyone as they traveled underwater. The only hint of them being there being the almost unnoticeable line that appeared on the surface.

Back in Rome had Godou just arrived and was practically flying out of the car as he was finally safe, happy to finally having reached his destination. Unknowing to the eyes of the goddess that was looking down on him from the top of one of the nearby buildings.

"So he is the one." the goddess, appearing not an older than a child confirmed as she looked down at her natural enemy, a god slayer. Her slitted pupils holding a deeply hidden curiosity for the boy.

"He certainly is." a voice that she hadn't expected said from behind her. But she didn't take any haste to turn around to look at the other new arrival.

The figure was entirely covered by a cape, with a hood pulled up to hide their head and facial features. The only giveaway to their gender being the masculine voice that they spoke with. He pulled down the hood, showing a face that could easily be considered handsome by those of the opposite gender, and long white silverish hair draped over his back, the top formed into smaller spikes. It also caused him to show his peculiar pointy ears and grey eyes, which was holding not only a fair bit of mischief in them, but also experience of one older than herself.

"So you're back." she acknowledged, looking back down on her promised opponent as he walked away. "Did you find what you was looking for?"

"Yes" The white haired man smiled, walking up besides the much shorter girl. His cape fluttered open, enough to show her what she was asking about. "Now, let us see if we can find what you're searching for."

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 **Hope you liked it.**

 **If you have any thoughts, guesses or opinions, please do put them in the reviews or PM them to me.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Sorry once again for taking so long with posting this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Campione or any of its characters. I only own my OC's**

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Chapter 8

Maria was running through one of the streets in Rome with a big smile on her lips, avoiding all the people that was passing by with ease. It had been quite sometime since she had last been in her home country's capital city, even longer than the last time she meet her grandfather, and she was loving every second of it.

Old memories awakened as she ran, remembering the times her father was still alive, and how they would spend a couple days in the great city. It was happier times, before they lost their father, before she was practically cursed with the powers of a god. Back when they weren't weighed down by knowing the truth that hid from the normal population, and the responsibilities that would follow them later on.

So she enjoyed these rare moments as much as possible when she got the chance, too bad her brother wasn't here at the moment. For as a King that hid in the background of the magical world had he more responsibility than she liked him to have.

"Slow down Maria, or you might hurt yourself." she could hear her mother call out behind her.

Maria did a quick turnaround, looking at her mother for a moment - "down worry mother I'm careful" - before she transitioned into a twirl as she turned back around-

Only to run straight into someone with enough force for her to fall down onto the cobblestone street, her glasses falling off in the process. Almost by instinct closed she her eyes as she noticed the small amount of weight lifting from her nose and ears, the familiar rush of information and ability to see strings that didn't exist on this plane of existence appearing for just a moment. But ended just as soon as it appeared. She immediately started searching for her spectacles, not even paying any attention to the person she had ran into, not that she could even if she wanted to.

"Excuse me, I think these belongs to you." a male voice called out to her, it sounded slightly british by the accent even as he had spoken in fluent italian. She stretched out her hand in the direction of where she had heard the voice, searching blindly for anything that could be the person in front of her. As she felt the familiar feel of her glasses, was she quick to snag them away from the unidentified man.

As she returned them to their rightful place on her face and opened her eyes to look at the man that had handed them over to her, halted her brain to a standstill as she saw him.

He was a young man, probably in his mid twenties or possibly even his early thirties. His hair was short and bright blonde that glowed in the light, giving it an almost unnatural glow that looked golden in color. And his eyes was a clear, bright blue that could match the clear midday sky on a beautiful day.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Then was there his voice with the accent, which almost seemed to entrance those that listened to his words, making them want to hear more. But it also left her unable to reply, her mind just repeating the words in her head without even attempting to decipher their meaning.

"Maria are you alright?!"

It wasn't until the concerned voice of her mother reached her ears that she finally snapped out of the trancelike state that she had been put under. She rose up from the sitting position that she had been in on the ground for the last couple moments, looking back at her mother as she stood back up on her feet. "Yeah, I'm alright."

Lucretia caught up to her daughter, looking at the man that had helped return her glasses to her. She, unlike her daughter however, was resistant to his charming features. Something that any experienced woman should know was to never take a man's looks as the only reason for their attraction towards a member of the opposite gender. While he certainly was pleasing to the eye, was there something that put her on edge.

It was an odd feeling that she couldn't fully describe with words. It was kind of like either a faint tickling or itching sensation in the back of her head, but it wasn't her instincts that was causing the feeling. No, that honor would have to go to her magical senses, honed from her experience in magical practices. And from what she could feel from the man, was he not normal.

Most people who practiced any form of magic only gave off magical energy during the times they were casting a spell. Campione and Gods however was constantly giving a steady flow of magical energy, which is for Campione kind of like marking territory in a way, while Gods' magical energy affect the environment and/or the populace directly. This was a feat that only the oldest and strongest of Magic users could even hope to imitate even a little, she herself being one of the few known individuals to recreate it.

This young man was the same as her, but with one glaring difference, it was so pure. While the flow that escaped out of his body was definitely within a human's capability, was the energy far purer and concentrated than what was expected of a human.

She didn't let her unease show on her face however, knowing that it would probably give her away sooner than her own flow of magical energy. Having suppressed it enough to have even those with great magical senses have a hard time feeling anything from her. Instead stood she before the young man with a smile on her lips.

"Thank you for helping my daughter…" she intentionally trailed off, indicating as her wanting to know the man's name.

The man was quick to pick up on the hint, turning his entire attention to the model like beauty before him. "Aldo." he responded, giving her his name.

"Lucretia. And this here is my adorable daughter, Maria." the great witch introduced, pulling her almost identical daughter closer to herself as she did. The young girl struggled a little against the sudden show of affection from her mother, before settling in and leaned slightly back against her mother.

Aldo had also stood up, having been in a crouching position as he had been helping Maria retrieve her glasses, picking up a paper bag filled with groceries as he did, Having placed it on the ground as he had crouched down earlier. He was dressed in pretty average everyday clothes for the warm Roman climate, wearing a white dress shirt and jeans.

He took a look at a watch strapped to his wrist, his features quickly changing from a calm and smiling expression into one of panic and dread as he saw what it read. But it quickly changed back, as he hastily put on a facade in front of the two ladies, but his true emotions was easy to spot even then. "Excuse me, but I will have to leave or else my boss won't be happy. I hope you don't take any offence."

"It's no problem-"

Lucretia was barely able to finish before the golden haired male took off in a sprint that could rival most professional athletes. The groceries in the paper bag somehow remaining inside the bag instead of flying out in all possible directions as he dodged through the crowds with extreme precision.

The female members of the Zola family just looked in the direction Aldo had run off, their minds taking some time to get rid of the initial shock from his sudden sprint, before fully processing what they had seen.

Just as they were about to start walking again, spoke someone up from behind them. "Mistress Lucretia, young mistress Maria, the master is ready to see you now."

They turned to where the voice had came from, seeing one of the so called master's - or as they better knew him; father-in-law and grandpa - men, dressed in what could be considered standard clothing within their organization. Being dressed in a black suit with a red undershirt and black dress pants despite the warm weather. His eyes was obscured by a pair of sunglasses that could only be seen through from one side. making it impossible to tell if he was truly looking at them or not.

"I have prepared transportation to the meeting spot, please, follow me." the glasses wearing man said before turning around, walking in the direction that the mentioned transportation probably was at. The mother and daughter duo looked at each other for a second, before following after the man. But before they were able to walk too far, turned Lucrezia around for a moment, looking in the direction that the man: Aldo had sprinted in before. But there was nothing there that caught her eye as she looked in the direction she had felt a sudden wave of magic trigger her senses, leaving her wondering what that had been. And it had felt so familiar too, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Deciding to let it go, started she following her daughter and the suit clad man.

None of them noticing the figure that was looking down on them from one of the buildings, their gaze turning to look in the opposite direction they were walking, searching for something.

It was around this time that Dante and Sleipnir had just reached Tibern where it streamed out into the Tyrrhenian Sea. Sleipnir had slowed down considerably, making sure to disturb the surface as little as possible to not draw any suspicion from anyone that might be walking close to the river. Meanwhile was Dante busy to hold a firm grip on the reigns as the streams suddenly became more noticable, the water collapsing in around him as the speed they traveled was far less than before. He was now very glad that he had gotten the diving equipment earlier, having realised when Sleipnir had started running that the horse would just part the water away from them thanks to his speed. The only thing he actually needed of his diving equipment back then was the oxygen tank, seeing as he had lacked air back then.

But he still had a long way to go before he actually reached Rome, and seeing as Sleipnir had slowed down would it take even more time than he had hoped. It was still faster than him getting his hands on a car, so that was a plus. The biggest problem he could think of at the moment was when he finally reached Rome, especially when he got close to the Colosseum. While the distance between the river and the old theater wasn't very much, couldn't he just up out of the water like it was nothing. Even worse if he took Sleipnir up with him. Whether he got out of the water unnoticed or not depended entirely on if his message had been received or not.

But that was a problem for later, right now needed he to focus on actually getting to Rome first, then he can try finding a way out of the water.

So Dante and Sleipnir continued onward, keeping a constant speed that was just below what was needed to disturb the water over them. They were quickly making their way towards Rome without any problem or obstacles. None of the people that looked over the river people ever noticing the eight legged horse that ran through water or the dirty blonde male on top of said horse.

It wasn't until he reached Ponte Rotto that he actually peaked his head out of the water, standing on Sleipnir's back to keep him obscured. But he could finally see his destination: Tiber Island. That was the place his escort would meet him, if they got the message that is. But before that would he need to get close to it without being spotted. He really wished he had paid more attention to all the different spells that existed now, or at least memorized more of them.

He stepped of the submerged steed under his feet, allowing himself to be fully subjected to the force of the streaming river. But even as the water was going in the opposite direction he needed to go, started he to move forward, going steadily against the stream.

As he neared the edge of the small island looked he out of the water to get a better look at it, trying to see if there was anybody around. But there wasn't anybody there, not a single soul. Come to think of it, now that he actually paid close attention to it, wasn't there anybody around. Not only on the island, but the surroundings as well. Noticing this closed he the distance between himself and the edge, before heaving himself up on dry land, the water dropping off him onto the ground, leaving a small puddle of water under him.

"You took a big gamble with your choice of transportation this time." a voice said from over Dante, their feet just barely inside his peripheral vision. "It is a good thing we were able to move all the people away from here before you arrived. So you should consider yourself lucky."

Dante looked up at the person that the voice belonged to, and saw someone he hadn't expected to see. The one that was standing over him was a young boy, dressed in a white button up shirt and black pants that was kept up by a pair of matching suspenders. His eyes were obscured by a pair of sunglasses, and resting on top of his black hair was a fedora of the same color. The words coming out of his mouth would have sounded condescending coming from somebody else's mouth, but with how monotone he delivered them failed it to come across as such. Sounding more like he was stating a fact rather than trying to patronize him.

The man was someone that Dante knew very well, having known him since they had both been children. His name was Fernando, one of his grandfather's many men as well as the youngest. Or he should be saying their grandfather's, as Fernando is also his cousin on his father's side.

Dante stood up from the ground, standing at similar height to that of his cousin. The two of them looked at each other for a moment, until one of them decided to break the silence. And that was Fernando.

"Grandfather is awaiting your arrival, so how about we stop staring and get a move on." while it sounded like a question, was far more of a statement for those that knew the black haired boy. Dante having understood the message nodded, a smile spread out over his face, having missed his cousin the last couple months he had been away on his travels with Maria. Whatever the same could be said about Fernando was hard to tell, his face a perfect mask that hid away all his emotions from the world.

The two of them proceeded to leave the island, just having to retrieve Fernando's car that he had parked by the San Giovanni Calibita church, and have Dante changed out of the all diving equipment before they left. None of them said anything as they drove through the streets of Rome towards the Colosseum, keeping quiet for the entire ride there. Fernando had his eyes mainly focused on the road as he drove the car, but even so noticed he that Dante had his eyes far more focused on the road than he normally used to since the last time they had meet. He wondered if anything had happened since last time, but the question was what. As he knew from past experience that it takes quite a bit to leave a lasting impression on him.

Meanwhile was Dante for the first time experiencing what he could only describe as being a side effect of having been exposed to Arianna's horrible driving skills. As soon as he had felt that the car started to move and not having the steering wheel in his hands, had a sudden wave of fear went through him. His brain screaming at him to not let the road out of his sight for even a second, even if the rational part of his brain knew that Fernando had never been in an accident while driving, but was that pushed aside by the horrible past experience. But it was enough to make sure that he didn't fly into a panic, making him be more on edge than normal

Not too much time after they had left the island reached they the Colosseum, traffic having been pretty scarce on the way there. As Fernando had parked the car stepped Dante out, taking several deep breaths in hope of calming himself down. He looked up at the old amphitheatre, having not seen it in a long time was it refreshing in his opinion.

But as he watched the old construct in all its splendor, lost he any track of how long he actually was standing there, his cousin actually having to start pulling at his shirt to actually get him to start moving again. Dante just followed after his black haired cousin, not knowing exactly where he was supposed to meet up with the rest of his family.

It was about that time that a limo pulled up in front of them. While it was a limo wasn't it exaggeratingly long, only just meeting the criteria for being qualified as a limo. In truth would calling it a tank be closer to the truth, being heavily armored despite its appearance and having bulletproof glass in each window. The only direct downside besides the high cost was its tremendous weight, needing a way stronger motor to function like a normal car.

Stepping out of it was two individuals that the both of them recognised, Lucretia and Maria. The younger of the two females was the first one to close the distance, jumping an impressive amount of said distance at that. And just as his sister collided with his ribcage at high speed, knocking some of the air out of his, asked he himself: 'Where is grandpa?'

It was a good question, as their grandpa was the only they knew that had one of those tank limous. And while he did care deeply about both Lucretia and Maria, would no one in his organization allow him to not be escorted safely, and would even resort to forcing him if they had to. And that was neither a joke or exaggeration in anyway, in fact, that was one of their calmer solutions to that kind of problem. Something that all four of those that were here knew was true.

But that left them wondering, where was he?

Meanwhile was not too far from the Colosseum, sitting outside a small cafe, was Kusanagi Godou. After that Arianna had drove him here from the airport had he decided to sit down and get something to drink. He had found this small cafe and had ordered an espresso, wanting to test how it tasted here in its origin country, and he wasn't the least bit disappointed by it. Combined with the perfect weather was it an excellent display of what the city had to offer in his opinion. He also liked the homely and welcoming presence that the cafe gave off.

But he wasn't able to fully enjoy the atmosphere, as there was something still nagging at him in the back of his mind. And that was the reason why Erica had made him get here, or to be more exact, his lack of knowledge to why she wanted him here. She hadn't told him anything over the phone, and Arianna hadn't provided him with any information. And if she had hadn't he heard it over his internal screaming when she had been driving him here. He had even contemplated calling Dante for a moment to get some answers, but decided against it in the end, as he probably wasn't involved in whatever was going on.

'Just what is Erica up to?'

"That is a good question. I have seen that girl a couple times in the past, but I have never been able to fully figure what is going through that pretty head of hers. Good luck with figuring that out."

The voice that had spoken snapped Godou out of his musing, turning his attention towards the new addition to table.

The newcomer was an older man, with long white silverish hair, but that was the only trait he could discern from the man. The majority of his body was hidden away by a white cape, with its hood pulled up in a way that hid his face. But even if he couldn't see the man's eyes, felt he how the man was scanning him. Judging him.

But even if he looked harmless, caused his very presence Godou to tense up. He already knew what the man in front of him was, his heart beating faster on instinct. It was hard to miss, with the amount of magical energy that he was extruding like the Sun, as it burnt against his magical senses. It was unlike anything he had ever felt before, but even so was there no doubt in his mind, this man was a Heretic God, and a strong one at that.

The hooded god laughed heartily. "There is no need to get so tense Godou, I am not here to hurt you. No, all I want is someone to talk to while I drink my coffee."

True to his words, was there a small cup of coffee in his right hand, which he proceeded to take a small sip from. But it didn't help to relieve Godou's mind, his mind racing through all possible ways the god could initiate an attack, and all ways that Godou could intercept them. The problem was that he knew basically nothing about him. Had his foe been someone he had fought before, like, for example Dante, would he at least know what to look out for. But against this new god knew he nothing about how he thought or behaved in combat.

But he couldn't just start fighting an unknown opponent amongst civilians, so doing as he was told might not be too bad of an idea. At least for now.

"Alright, so what is it you want to talk about?"

"Oh~, what intense fire, it is nothing like any other version of Godou Kusanagi I have ever seen before. I only had to appear and you are already preparing for combat. I have to say, Dante had more of an impact on you than I initially thought." The smile on the silver haired god's face grew slightly bigger as the Japanese Campione tensed up involuntary. But he changed the subject before Godou had a chance to talk. "But that isn't what I want to talk about. No, I am more interested in something you aren't aware of yet."

Godou barely had any time to gather his thoughts at how the god was leading the conversation. In one moment had he revealed that he knew about Dante and how he had kinda been like a mentor to him in the beginning. And in the next changed he the subject completely, wanting to talk about he didn't even know. It was like he had been sent on a rollercoaster ride in his mind. "So what is it you wanted to talk about?"

"The world will end in a couple days."

He had expected a lot of things, hoping to at least get some context about what he was going to talk about, but no, he just cut straight to the case. And what he had just been told was one of the last things he expected to hear. The world will end in just a couple days, was he serious, or did he just want scare him? It was impossible to tell whether he was serious or not, but those wasn't words that one could just ignore like they were nothing, especially when it was a god speaking said words.

"What do you mean?"

"Well-" before the silver haired god could explain what he had said earlier, stopped he suddenly. He appeared to have tensed ever so slightly, which Godou was only barely able to notice thanks to his improved eyesight. He then stood up, downing the entire cup of coffee in one gulp. "It seems that we will have to cut this conversation short. But I hope you think about what I said."

Before Godou could attempt to stop the man, had he already disappeared. Not as disappearing from sight by walking into the crowd, but as vanishing right in front of him. In one moment was he there, in the next was he not.

"Godou Kusanagi."

He looked at the person that had spoken, and was immediately intimidated by what he saw. Standing just about a meter from him was four men, all of them wearing black suits with red undershirts, three of them even wearing sunglasses. But it was the older man that lacked that specific accessory that caught his attention. It wasn't because he was the only one missing spectacles. It was more because of the charismatic aura that he was extruding, which combined with his confident posture told him of a man that held a great deal of power.

"That is me." he responded cautiously, not really liking the amount of strangers that knew his name in this foreign country. And even more so that all of them up until this point had been either people or beings of power. Which is why he was caught off guard by the smile that appeared on the blond man's face, as it reminded him of his grandfather's in a way.

"It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Fausto, I am an acquaintance of Erica Blandelli, and I am also the one responsible for transporting you to where you will be meeting with miss Blandelli." The elderly man explained, his smile not leaving his face even once. This helped to ease Godou's mind a little, but the other three men didn't really help as they stood there in attention, each one of them clearly keeping a lookout for anything going on around them. It made him feel kinda of on edge, as if an attack could come at any given moment.

But that wasn't impossible, especially with that god from before.

It was hard to describe, but even with his somewhat carefree personality was it clear that he was dangerous. Not only was he aware of things that he thought had been kept secret, but he had also been able to read his mind somehow, seeing as he knew that he had been thinking about Erica and her schemes. But that wasn't all, most of all had it been his own instincts as a Campione that told him of the man's strength. They had screamed at him to run, like when a small animal came face to face with a hungry predator. That god was strong, no doubt about that. Stronger than anything he had faced up until this point.

He decided to ignore that feeling for now, nodding in acknowledgement of Fausto's earlier statement. He was then lead by the three men away from the cafe - one of them taking his espresso in a to go cup before handing it to him - to a limo waiting for them not to far away from the cafe. He was motioned to enter and he did as he was told, Fausto following behind him, followed by the three glasses wearing men. As soon as the door was closed drove the limo away.

It was quiet in the vehicle, none of the four males attempting to break the silence that was between them. All that was heard was the limous engine and the radio that was playing some song that Godou didn't recognise.

It was Fausto that was the one that broke the silence first. "I take it that you have some questions, and please, don't be shy, I will answer them to the best of my abilities."

"Well then, do you know why Erica wanted me to get here so soon?" It was a question that had been on his mind ever since he had gotten here, having never gotten into contact with Erica again ever since he had called about Arianna picking him up, so the reason he was here to begin with was lost on him.

Fausto widening his eyes at that, a bit perplexed about this information. But that quickly changed, letting out a small hearty laugh. "Well, I want to say that that surprised me, but I have heard enough about the young Diavolo Rosso to know that would be a lie." He breathed in and out, his visage turning serious. "Well the reason that you are here is because Erica sees you as a possible candidate to obtain a certain relic that we have been keeping an eye on a couple years now. And while we are no longer suited to keep it safe, are some of us not entirely sure that you are the best choice, me included. No offense, but you have been a Campione for like, what, one, maybe two weeks now?"

"None taken, and it has barely been one week." Godou responded, seeing what the man was going at. He was the youngest of the bunch of a total of 8 Campione, all of which had much more experience than him by a large margin. He hadn't met any of the other Campiones except Dante, but if they were anything like the dirty blond boy would they probably be a better pick than him.

"But speaking about the short time you have been a King, it is very impressive that you managed to acquire the Authorities of two gods in the span of 72 hours. It is an accomplishment that I don't think anyone can claim they have accomplished before. No doubt an impressive achievement."

"Thanks, but I can't take all the credit." The young Campione rubbed his neck sheepishly, a bit embarrassed by all the praise he was getting all of the sudden.

"Oh yes, you did have the Diavolo Rosso by your side back then if I remember correctly." A smile appeared on the elderly man's face as he said that. It looked oddly similar to one of those mischievous smiles that his grandfather would give him sometimes. And that unnerved him. "Tell me, how are you finding her so far?"

"Erica?! Well, she is a strong willed and determined woman no doubt, but I have noticed that she has a bad habit of ordering others around, or maybe it is just me she likes doing that to." He pondered on that last part for a moment. Was he the only one that was a victim in Erica's schemes, or were there any other unfortunate souls that had been caught in her plans? If so, was Fausto possibly one of them? "She's a devil."

"I can't fault you for thinking that, but she got that title for a reason." Fausto responded, his mischievous smile switching for his grandfatherly one. "Any other questions?"

"Yeah, how come you guys are not suited to protect this relic anymore, and why are you taking there if you don't see me as a good candidate?" To be honest, was Godou sure that they wouldn't even have considered him if it wasn't for Erica. But that also brought up the question, why did they need someone like a Campione to guard the relic?

"To answer your first question, are we not fitted to protect this relic because the one that is after it happens to be a Heretic God." he noticed how Godou tensed after hearing that explanation, but didn't comment on it. "As for why I am taking you to this meeting is because you're the reason that it exists. I, as well as some of the other organization leaders want to see you in action, and want to evaluate for ourselves whether you will be able to keep the relic safe or not. Looks like we have arrived."

True to his words had the limo stopped moving, and one of the men that had sat quiet this entire time opened the door. He exited the vehicle, followed by Godou and Fausto, and afterwards came the two other men out. Godou could finally see what this meeting point was, and he instantly recognised the structure. He also noticed that there were already people here waiting, several of which were familiar faces.

The first one was Erica, who was currently talking to a boy their age he didn't know, with a fedora and suspenders, both of which appeared to discussing something. The other two was Lucretia and Maria, both of which was listening to the discussion between the two young adults. The first one to turn in their direction was the youngest of the lot, her eyes shining in happiness as she saw them.

Godou didn't have much time to react before she turned into a human cannonball, having leaped off the ground and flew right into the older man's chest with enough force to knock him to the ground. Godou could do nothing but stand there flabbergasted at the scene, and heard clearly that the older man was letting out small noises of pain as he lied there on the ground with the small girl still hugging him.

He just stood there, flabbergasted at the girl's show of athleticism, but also about the fact that she had just crashed into someone that was probably important. At least if the security was anything to go by that is.

He was shocked even further as the elderly man let out a hearty laugh the likes of which he had never heard before.

"It is good to see you too Maria" Fausto said as he sat up, the girl not easing her grip even once as he made his way up from the ground, a happy smile present on her face. Two of the three men helped him to stand up, while the third stood ready with a first aid kit.

"I take it you are as shocked as I initially was when I found out, right Godou?" He didn't even need to turn around to know who that voice belonged to, as it had already buried itself into his head since the day he had met her.

"I'm only gonna take a guess, but seeing how Maria is still cuddling into his chest, am I pretty certain that it is probably correct. He is her grandfather right?" he looked over to Erica, who had moved to stand by his side. But the expression on her face wasn't one that he was used to seeing from her. It was neither the mischievous or alluring expression that she would often have in his presence, and not the serious one that she had whenever she was ready to fight. No this was one that he had had yet to see until, she looked troubled.

"That is correct." She looked like she wanted to say something, but was deciding not to. And before he could ask her what was on her mind were he interrupted.

"Lord Kusanagi, please do follow me."

It was the fedora wearing boy that he had seen Erika speak with earlier. He stood there waiting for Godou to respond, his face not betraying anything about what he might be thinking.

Godou looked at Erika for confirmation, but the blond woman seemed to preoccupied with her own thoughts, until she noticed that Godou was looking at her and gave him a nod. Seeing as he had gotten what he was waiting for turned he to the fedora wearing boy and started walking with him. And as he did understood he where the real meeting point was, the Colosseum.

It was kind of fitting in a way, as this huge arena had once pitted warriors and animals against each other to determine who was the strongest. So having this as the place that he was gonna prove himself was not a bad idea. Well, unless you considered that thousands of said animals and warriors had died a gruesome death to entertain the people of Rome that is. He didn't wanna fight someone to the death just to prove himself.

Already waiting there inside the amphitheatre, just outside the gate that would take one directly to the arena, stood three individuals that he had never meet before. But he could see from their clothing and posture that they were all in some sort of position of power, similar to that of Fausto that he had met before.

It was the man that was dressed in purple that noticed him first. "You must be the new King! Lord Godou Kusanagi, it is an honor to meet you." He bowed, showing as much respect as he could for the young Demon Lord. The other two that had stood there waiting with him did the same, knowing how dangerous an angered Campione could be.

As for how Godou felt about it, he didn't like it. He knew that he was something far superior to humans now, but it still felt weird to be held in such high revere, he had been a normal human just about a week ago. But he did his best in not letting it show on his face, being aware that doing so might cause them to panic.

"I take it that Fausto informed you of the reason why you are here?" This time was it the one that he had trouble identifying the gender of that spoke.

"Yeah, he told me on the way here. But how am I supposed to prove that I am fit to protect this relic of yours?" He had his suspicion, but he didn't want to take anything for granted.

"Through battle of course." the one answering was the very same woman responsible for him being back here just a couple days after he had returned home. He looked over at Erika, who he just now realised had followed with him into the Colosseum the entire time. She sounded confident, but there was something in her voice that he didn't recognise from her. Was it worry? Fear? Distress? He didn't know, as it sounded so alien coming from her mouth to him. "Fausto was kind enough to find an opponent that will more than likely be able to draw out your full potential."

That was, a logical way of proving if he was good enough or not actually. Campione were beings that lived to fight gods after all, so having him fight someone else that was very skilled wasn't an illogical way of doing it. That only left the question of who he would be facing.

If he had to guess would it be someone of great skill and prowess, someone like Erika or the three individuals that had been waiting in the Colosseum. Or someone else of similar strength.

"Your opponent is already waiting inside the arena. The rest of us will move to the stands to have a better view of the fight. Do your best Godou." The last part was whispered to him by the blonde woman that he was pretty sure was behind all of this in one way or another, and it kind of made him glad that she sounded like herself at that last part. He looked at them as they walked away, leaving him alone at the entrance to the arena. How many gladiators had stood here before him, prepared to fight to the very death against their fellow human? Hundreds, probably thousands if he had to guess.

But he wasn't here to fight to the death he was here to prove himself.

The first thing he noticed about the arena, was that it wasn't made out of sand like had expected. Instead was it some kind of silver like metal powder that covered the entire oval shape, with a similar feeling to that of sand, as his feet sank into it as soon as he stepped onto it. The second thing was that all the people he had seen waiting outside, was now up on the stands, allowing them to see the entire thing from above. And third, and most important, was that it was empty. No sign of his opponent anywhere.

"Hey guys where is my opponent?-"

The Raptor activating was the only warning he got.

His body moved out of pure instinct from there, dashing away from the spot he had just been standing at with godspeed and dropping to the ground. The silver sand absorbing the force of the impact as he stopped. He looked up from his crouched position, seeing who his foe was. -

A gunshot rang throughout the air, before everything once again got silent.

\- And he berated himself for not having thought about this possibility even once.

"Good job dodging my attack Godou." the one responsible for the shot against the Japanese Campione praised. "But I hope you don't think that just because of that that you will have a better chance of winning."

Godou smiled as he stood up to his full height. "Of course not. I don't expect you will be going easy on me either."

"I might see this as a good teaching session, but that is exactly the reason I will go full out." The man replied as he tucked away his gun into its holster. Silvery liquid spreading onto his hands as he prepared for the fight.

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you Dante."

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 **Hope you liked it.**

 **I will try to get out the next chapter as soon as possible, seeing as I will soon have Summer break will I be able to focus more on my writing.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I do not own Campione or any of its characters. I only own my OC's**

 **Indra and the Weapons of Thunder are owned by Crimson Dragon Emperor**

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Chapter 9

The reason why he was here to begin with was all but forgotten as the fight began. This was no longer just a fight to prove himself to the people watching, or to be the one that gets to guard an ancient artifact. No, to him was this something more than that. -

Godou dodged the first flurry of attacks that was sent towards him, his godspeed making him more than able to avoid them without any trouble.

\- This battle was for himself.

For as long as he had known Dante, had he always the one that took charge of things when it came to stuff involving their shared status as Campione. The training he had went through his first day as a Campione, their fight against Melqart, and even his transformation into one was all because of him. This made him feel kind of inferior to the boy. But this, this was the perfect opportunity to prove himself wrong.

Now don't take him wrong, he didn't hate Dante or anything like that. It was more along the lines of how a younger sibling would often look up to their older sibling and would try doing everything they did just as well.

He jumped back, avoiding the kick that had been aimed for his right cheek. But instead of waiting for his opponent to close the distance and continuing his attacks, charged he forward, slamming his body straight into Dante at godspeed. The resulting force knocking him of his feet, and sent him flying through the air for a couple meters before he landed. But he didn't stop, as he rolled a good distance over the sand.

This gave Godou some time to breath, as the Raptor deactivated itself and a wave of pain went through his body. But he didn't stop being vigilant, knowing that something like that wouldn't be enough to take down the dirty blond boy.

This paid off, as he was able to notice the rune of fire that appeared by his feet, jumping back just before it exploded. He wasn't able to fully avoid the fierce flames that spread out from the rune, his clothes being slightly singed and having had to raise his arms so that they shielded his face from the intense heat.

He felt a sharp wave of pain from his shoulder as a bullet hit it, lodging itself in the wound it had created. This sudden pain caused him to flinch momentarily, and distracted him long enough to not notice the silvery fist that appeared out of the smoke caused by the explosion from earlier until it had already hit him in the stomach, knocking the air out of him. Godou was sent flying back by the hit, landing flat on his back a good distance from where he had been standing before.

Not taking any chances with staying down, rolled he to the side. Which turned out to be a wise decision, as barely a moment later, crashed something into the ground where he had been before he rolled. Large amounts of silver dust had been kicked up into the air from the impact, hindering everybody from seeing what it was that had crashed into the ground with such force. But they had their suspicion.

"For I am strongest amongst the strong. Truly, I am one that holds each and every victory. I care not whom challenges me, whether man or devil; I may face all my foes and all my enemies. Regardless, I shall crush all those who wouldst stand in my way!" The power of the Bull spread throughout his body, just in time to block the next attack from Dante as he flew out of the silver cloud with a kick aimed at his head. The strength that the Bull gave him was more than enough to stop the attack right in its tracks, before he grabbed onto Dante's ankle and threw him towards the nearest wall with as much strength as he could.

The blond boy tried to slow down the speed at which he was traveling towards the wall, but the sand didn't provide much friction for his feet to find any grip. All he managed to accomplish was to slide over the sands surface for a short distance before he lost his balance and started rolling towards the wall instead. That was about the only form of slowing down he was able to accomplish before he reached the wall. He did however manage to save the wall, having covered that portion of the wall in runes.

"You are tough Godou, I'll give you that"

The sand making the arena started to move, several smaller portions of it turned into liquid, before they all took the shape of broadswords and hardened.

"But you are far from the first tough foe I have fought." He ordered the silver on his arms to disappear, preparing to use another one of his Authorities. "Fires that is part of Creation, I am your Ruler and Champion, guarding your entrance until the times of the End, where we will engulf the World. Fill my weapon with your flames and become the sword that can cut down all! I am the Lord of Fire, for I am the Lord of Muspelheim!"

Godou had tried to close the distance as soon as possible when he had heard him start to chant the incantation. Understanding why he had created swords across the entire arena as soon as he began. But Dante had been able to complete it far before Godou was able reach him, his arms being more than enough to tell that the Authority had activated. Having turned into what looked like black stone that had lava running in vein like lines all over them. The sword he grabbed quickly changed from a dull shiny silver, into a bright orange that made it look as if it was enveloped in flames.

"Now, tell me Godou, can you match me?"

Meanwhile up at the stands amongst the onlookers was there mixed reactions to the fight that was going on down in the arena. The Purple Knight, Old Dame and Female Wolf, all three of them having their full attention at the engagement between the two Demon Kings. But at the same time were they all very nervous. Not just about the fact that they were sitting so close to the confrontation, but also because of the fact that there was two Campione currently fighting each other. They had all heard stories about what usually happened when they fought one of their fellow Kings. That was more than a good enough reason for anyone to be scared about the very thought of two of them actually trading blows.

"Lord Fausto, while I do agree that this is the best way in testing these two Kings, don't you think that this is a little, how should I say, reckless?" Female Wolf asked the blond corp leader that was behind this.

"To be honest do I agree, this is probably one of the less favorable ideas that I come up with. I usually trust Dante to keep the situation at hand under control, but seeing how quickly he's letting himself go, wouldn't I be surprised if at least one form of collateral damage happens before this is over."

Erica, who was sitting some distance from her fellow blond had to agree. She had seen Dante fight twice before now, and she had somewhat of a good understanding about how he acted in a fight. He was usually calm and collected, looking for the fastest way to take down his opponent through either his Authorities or that gun of his. But he also had a special form of charisma that only showed itself when he fought. He awakened something in his opponents that they usually didn't show, making them want to fight with everything they got to find out who was the stronger between them. She had seen how it had affected both Verethragna and Melqart in their last fights, both of them unleashing their full powers without any regard for the fact that they could walk into a trap. But even if they lost afterwards were they still content with the fight, as well as their life.

So while Godou wasn't a god, was he no doubt not immune against this peculiar trait that Dante possessed. Especially with the fact that they were both Campione. She would never admit it, but the thought of those two ever facing each other as actual enemies scared her.

Back down at the arena, was Godou doing his best to dodge all of the sword swings that Dante sending at him. While avoiding the sword was easy most of the time, lied the real problem in the huge arc of fire that followed it afterwards. He was only barely able to avoid them the majority of the time, but during those unlucky moments had they landed direct hits on his body. His body was covered in several burns of different degrees, his clothes almost burnt up at this point.

He grabbed one of the swords that stood up from the ground, before going for a swing towards his opponent's right shoulder. This was intercepted by another flaming sword, causing both of them to be destroyed thanks to both the Bull and Blade of the Devil Giant. An explosion of flames spread out from where the two blades had destroyed each other, engulfing both of the boys before they had any chance to move.

But the flames wasn't enough to stop either of them, as both of them sent a punch in the direction they had last seen their opponent. Both of their attacks connected at the same time, the resulting force blowing away the flames that surrounded them, quickly extinguishing them.

They stood there in a stalemate, their fists pushing for dominance against their opponent. Godou's fist enveloped in a golden aura, and Dante's obsidian black fist. But Godou started pushing forward, his strength far more than capable of outclassing Dante's at the moment, the Bull constantly feeding him power to assure his victory.

With one last push skyrocketed his strength, breaking through Dante's countering strength with ease. Godou stepped forward, taking advantage of this chance, pushed his fist forward once more. Dante, unable to defend against the incoming attack, could do nothing but look as the punch connected with his body. And for the second time during this fight, found he himself flying through the air.

Meanwhile felt Godou how the Bull's power left him, having used up its power. Which was bad, seeing as he had no other viable Authorities available at the moment. Yes he was wounded, but not enough to trigger the Camel. The White Stallion was waiting to be used, but doing so would put the spectators in jeopardy, and so would the Boar as well.

And the Warrior wasn't an option at all, lacking the necessary knowledge about any of Dante's Authorities to call on it. And while he was aware about one of the god's identity, knew he not nearly enough information to actually use the Golden Sword. His options was very limited at the moment, but there was one thing he hadn't thought about.

"Spacing out like that will get you killed!"

He only managed to recognize the words that was shouted at him, before a second wave of pain went through his body as another bullet hit him, this time in his abdomen. He tried to stand, but the sudden pain got him down on his knees. A second shot was heard a couple seconds later, but there was no pain. He looked up in the direction he had last seen his opponent. And he was shocked by what he saw.

Dante was aiming the gun, right into his own arm. A freshly made hole had been blasted through his left arm, the black rock surface gone, and was currently letting out a steady stream of blood. He then placed it back where he had kept it before.

Godou knew what was coming, he had to act fast.

"For I am gallant, and what I display is the sigil of the fierce Camel!"

"Sword of Unity, appear before me!"

Sand and lightning covered the entire arena as they clashed. Leg met sword as they sent attack after attack towards each other. Godou displayed martial art skills not displayed by the Japanese youth otherwise. While Dante unleashed swordsmanship not expected of the otherwise gun wielding Italian.

The metallic sand turned magnetic by the electricity sent out by Dante's sword, each swing causing it to fly around the arena as long metal whips. And each time it clashed with Godou's legs kicked they up more sand, adding to the magnetic clouds of flying sand. They never got close to the two fighters, flying around the arena as result of the magnetic and physical forces caused by the two Campione. But every time they touched a part of the amphitheatre, sawed they their way through the stone that made it with ease, leaving deep gashes wherever they passed.

The two youths jumped away from each other, taking the first real break in the entire fight. None of them made any indications to move, only keeping an eye on the other as they took deep breaths of air. Both had been injured from the clashes, but none of them was close to being considered severe wounds, only being small cuts and bruises, their bullet wounds having been healed by their Authorities. But the mayor difference between the two of them, was the fact that the bruises covering Dante's body was slowly healing, while the cuts on Godou's wasn't, even with the Camel's power.

That was all thanks to Dante's sword, Ukonvasara, the sword of the Finnish god of the sky and thunder. While usually depicted as either a hammer or axe, took it also in rare occasions the form of a sword. Finnish Shamans believed that Ukko's axe held the power to healing as well as to damage, and would therefore collect stone axes or thunderstones. That is what Ukonvasara was, an Authority that healed the wounds of those that Dante wanted to heal, and hindered his opponents from healing theirs.

The lightning that shot out from the blade stopped, all the magnetised sand around them falling back to the ground as a result.

"Come on, Godou, I know that you are holding back! Unleash your full might already, or I promise you that I will break you first!"

Godou knew that he was probably right, but actually going all out with the Authorities that was at his disposal right now would have serious consequences on the area around them. Well, two of them absolutely would, there was one however that probably wouldn't cause any collateral damage.

'Alright Melqart, let's see what your Authority does.' He felt it resonate with his thoughts. Unlike the Ten Incarnations of Verethragna, didn't it have any certain conditions that limited its use, allowing him to call on it whenever he needed to. The reason that he hadn't used it yet was because he hadn't used it before, having never found the time to, and using it at home was out of the question.

"I am the one that bears the title of Demon, one that spreads sickness and famine, he who devours all. I will darken the heavens, as my journey strikes madness into the people, my hunger knowing no bounds. Come to me, that which denotes me as the Lord of Flies!"

A large cloud like mass of black flew out from his arms, an unnatural buzzing filling the air as the small Divine Beasts manifested into the world. While not particularly strong on their own, made they more than up for it in raw numbers. They circled around their master like two wriggling snakes, awaiting his command.

Meanwhile inside the Colosseum, just outside the arena, was someone silently observing the confrontation between the two Campione. She had long silver hair tied up into a ponytail and blue eyes, and was wearing a uniform reminiscent to the one Erica possessed, except that the main color was blue instead of red. Her name was Liliana Kranjcar, a Great Knight of the Bronze-Black Cross. But her business here wasn't as a knight of the Bronze-Black Cross, but at the orders from her current master, the currently oldest Campione, Sasha Dejanstahl Voban.

He had gotten word of another Campione having been born not too long ago, and wanted to have some information about his latest addition of potential prey. Especially intrigued by the record of killing his second deity in such short time after his first. So he sent her here to spy for him, getting as much information for him as possible, wanting to know what this new King was capable of.

But to know that she wouldn't bear witness to only one King's power was not something she had expected. She was impressed by both of them as they duked it out, neither one going down easily as they exchanged attacks. It wasn't as flashy or destructive as a confrontation between Campione usually was, both of them holding back their more devastating Authorities. But she had started to notice something between the two boys.

The blonde one was clearly the more experienced of the two, never hesitating once in his actions. Whether it was using attacks that could clearly cause serious damage to either of them, or shooting himself in the arm to trigger an Authority. It was disturbing in a way, he still acted like a human personality wise, but his action was like those of a machine programmed to kill no matter the cost.

Meanwhile was the Japanese Campione on another part of the spectrum. He showed several signs of hesitation throughout the fight, clearly showing his inexperience. But at the same time was there never a moment he wasn't serious across the entire battle, his face showing that he wanted to win despite the odds being stacked against him.

As Liliana continued observing the fight, failed she to notice the individual walking out of the shadows of the Colosseum. Their presence seemed non existence, not a single step being heard as they sneaked up on the unsuspecting girl. A sweet scent spread through the area the two of them were standing, and before the silver haired girl managed to fully grasp the situation, had her consciousness already left her as she blacked out. The individual responsible had caught her before she hurt herself against the ground, before proceeding with the preparations, a bundle of rope in their hands.

Back at the arena was Dante having some trouble against the small Divine Beasts. Unlike the last time he had thought them weren't they sent in one single giant wave, no, Godou was smarter than that, knowing about the swords capabilities. So instead kept he sending out the demonic insects in a constant stream, which was quickly starting to overwhelm him. While he killed several with each swing, where the ones he killed protecting those behind them, and during the time it took for him to swing again had they already closed parts of the distance between them. It wasn't long until they would literally swarm him.

He let go of the sword with his right hand, leaving it open for his next weapon. He hated to do this, mostly because of the strain it put on his body, but also because he wanted this fight to continue for a little longer at the very least.

"Thunder of the Spirit, Reveal yourself!"

He felt how a might current went throughout his body as the second Weapon of Thunder appeared in his right hand. It looked somewhat like a small club with one head on each end, the entirety colored gold. The heads were ribbed and spherical, being made up by five prongs each, that ended in sharp edges. Decorating the prongs were one row of diamonds, with one big at the base, becoming smaller the closer one got to the tip of the prong, ending with a small and pointy diamond tip.

The lightning that enveloped Ukonvasara grew in strength, having connected with its fellow Weapon of Thunder, which also grew an equally intense amount of lightning around it. It coated the entirety of both weapons, before moving up along Dante's arms, making him visibly tense at the high voltage that was suddenly coursing through his body. And it only grew worse as the magical energy continued to rise, the lightning increasing in strength and intensity as a result.

Any of the Divine Beasts that tried to get close to him didn't get a chance, the intense lightning creating a sphere around him that disintegrated all locusts of Baal. This sphere expanded outwards in all directions, covering more ground and obliterating more and more of Godou's Divine Beasts.

Godou, upon seeing that his swarm of locusts stopped having any effect, started to retreat towards the very edge of the arena. He was panicking a little from having seen Dante pull out that move, but that didn't hinder the analytic part of his brain from searching for a way to turn it around. Which was the very reason why he had tried to position them like they stood right now.

It all came down to this one moment, he would prove himself here and now, prove that he could beat Dante. Prove that he could surpass him, that he didn't stand in his shadow.

And to do that would he unleash that which had begun it all.

"Come to me, for victory!"

For the second time that day stood the sun in the center of the sky. Something that was in reality impossible, turned for these few moments into the truth. High up in the sky, where no one could see what was happening, unveiled the flames themselves, revealing the White Stallion as it prepared to strike down its intended target, his sins making him an available target for its descent.

"Immortal Sun, lend me a quick, shining steed."

Erica, upon seeing what Godou was about to unleash had started creating a protective dome around her and the others. Lucretia helped her, creating another dome on top of hers, but even then were they unsure whether or not it would be able to withstand the approaching attack.

"Come to me, great and ethereal horse! Your Master demands your immediate presence here!"

A spear of fire descended from the skies as the White Stallion closed in on its target. Like a shooting star, raced it across the sky, a trail of divine flames the only thing that was left in its path towards the earth.

Fire meet lightning.

Dante had expanded the sphere that surrounded him, causing it to meet the Stallion just above the Colosseum, sparks of lightning and flakes of fire spread out from the impact, as a shockwave shook the surrounding area for about a kilometer in every direction and the two forces of nature lighted up the sky.

This was a true clash between Campione and their Authorities, as the powers of gods fought against one another for dominance over each other, wielded by those that had managed to slay their former masters. Powers far exceeding that of any human mage clashed against each other.

But in the end would only one overcome the other, and which one was overpowering the other was becoming clear.

The White Stallion's intense flames pushed against the dome of lightning, like a spear of fire sent by a deity to smite whoever dared challenge them. A powerful attack, that truly deserved to be an avatar of the Persian god of Victory. But against this shield that Dante had created fell it short.

Had Dante only been using the Vajra would the celestial flames no doubt have pierced through in the end. But against him when he was wielding two Weapons of Thunder, was it unlikely, as their magical output had drastically increased in each others presence. And as a result was the White Stallion slowly being torn apart by Ukonvasara's power, as it was channelled through the dome created by the Vajra.

This was something Godou had been prepared for however. Ever since he was introduced into the magical side of the world and becoming a Campione, had he taken a quick crash course involving a select number of deities. Mostly Verethragna and Melqart, seeing as it was their Authorities that he possessed now. But he also studied a little about one particular deity that Dante had slain. The god of thunder and lightning from Norse mythology: Thor.

Now this wasn't nearly enough to awaken the Warrior and bring out the Golden Sword, not even if he only wanted to slightly weaken the Authority. And he was getting desperate, so-

"Erica!"

-he would take Erica up on the whole she being his knight thing, there was no other way out of it that he managed to find. Now, most people would probably find it silly that Godou was considering pulling out his trump card in what is essentially a spar. But Godou really wanted to win this, something that would help boost his confidence.

"Yes, Godou?" Erica landed besides him, her seat up at the stands left behind. Her presence up at the stands wasn't needed, seeing as the barrier that Dante had created was more than enough to keep all within the Colosseum from harm.

"You wouldn't happen to know the information necessary for me to seal that, because if you do, then please share it with me."

"My, how forward of you. To actually tell a lady to kiss you out of the blue like that is a bit hasty don't you think." Erica couldn't help but tease the Japanese youth at his choice of words, finding satisfaction from the embarrassment that showed on his face as a result.

"I don't have time for this Erica, just do it already."

"As you wish." The short distance that had between their faces became non existent, their lips locked in a kiss. Godou felt how information filled his head at speeds not possible for the human mind to comprehend, instead being ingrained into his mind through force for him to remember it temporarily.

A circle spread out under his feet, depicting a bearded man wielding a sword and shield. Up from this circle rose a curved sword up from the ground, looking to be entirely made out of gold, and markings of an ancient language no longer spoken by man was written along a portion of the blade's flat. This was the manifestation of the Warrior Authority, the Golden Sword that once belonged to Verethragna.

"Lightning is often seen as the strongest power belonging to the gods, making it the power that belongs to the King of the Gods. As they are the ones that wields the greatest power is it impossible to challenge their position, making them the most feared of the gods, as well as the most revered."

The silver sand that had covered the arena throughout the whole fight changed color to that of gold, while the sky overhead became that of night time.

"But even as the ones that control the mighty lightning, were they also wielder of weapons mighty enough to be considered equals to the lightning, or even as the originator of their powers. Zeus, the King of the Greek pantheon didn't get the power over lightning until it was created by the Cyclops, as well as his Norse identity Thor, is never depicted using the power of lightning without his hammer. In other words aren't they the ones that has the might over the lightning's power, but their weapons."

Swords started to appear from the ground, floating up into the air around them. Each one identical to each other, and a clear semblance to the Golden Sword.

"Meteoric iron, the iron that falls from the sky, has always been considered a mystical source of iron, and before the discovery of iron smelting was it the only source of iron available. It was thus held in high importance and regard, and was used even before the Iron Age to make cultural objects and weapons. People believed that this iron belonged to the god of lightning, as it would attract the lightning itself, and therefore became known as the metal from heaven, a part of the mightiest god's powers and weapon."

The swords that had been floating around the lightning dome turned their blades towards Dante, who was still standing the middle of the barrier he had created, before shooting towards it at high speed. But the resistance that they meet has still more than enough to keep them from piercing through it effectively, only the very tip of the blade making it through before slowing to a crawl.

"That is the powers that you managed to acquire from the mighty god of lightning when you slew him, the metal of heaven, the weapons that controls the mightiest power of the skies. The hammer of Thor, the sword of Ukko, and the Vajra of Indra, that which possess the properties of both Steel and Sky."

The swords started to slowly push their way through, their sharpness increasing as words of knowledge behind Dante's Authority left his mouth. He needed to keep going, but his time was running out, as several of the blades that had pushed through the barrier's outer layer started snapping in half from the pressure caused by it.

"The shamans of ancient Finland believed that old flint arrow and axe heads were the result of a thunderbolt having struck the ground, and believed that they possessed the properties of not only healing, but also the power to damage others. Ukko, the Finnish god of thunder and lightning, also became one of the shamans most revered deities because of this, as the one responsible for sending down these stones to humans. That is the power that lies behind the sword you are wielding, taking shape of the flaming sword of Ukko, while carrying the name of his hammer!"

The lightning surrounding Ukonvasara severely weakened at the words that was spoken by Godou, the damage affecting the swords that were still forcing their way through dropping significantly as a result. Godou knew that this would be the last push, before his victory was secured.

"The Vajra is the weapon belonging to the Hindu rain and lightning god Indra. This weapon carries both properties of its name in Sanskrit, being that of a thunderbolt, as well as a diamond. Thunderbolts, as the mightiest power of the gods is regarded as an irresistible force that strikes down anything and anyone that stands in its path without failure. Diamonds, are the hardest natural element on Earth, and is indestructible against other natural forces except itself, making it something that no other force of nature can wish to harm. That is the power of the Vajra that you are currently using, its representation of indestructibility through the diamond!"

With those last words swung Godou the sword that had been waiting in his hands, its curved edge going right through the electric barrier, severing Dante's Authority as a result. The entire defensive dome that had surrounded the blond boy dispersed, his control over the lightning that had made it having left him. Leaving him open to the approaching attacks.

The golden swords shoot towards him, the only thing dividing them having disappeared. As well as the White Stallion, who had never stopped its charge towards its target, even with the barrier. Dante had no time to defend himself, leaving him open to all of the swords and the White Stallion, as they all hit him simultaneously.

The flames spread out in a fiery explosion, engulfing the entire arena in its divine flames, the great heat that it gave of beginning to melt the silver sand that covered it. No one could see past the flames as it lighted up the amphitheatre, having to cover their eyes as to not be blinded by the bright light. Bright flashes of gold could also be spotted through the flames by those that looked, as the golden swords were burned up by the horses flame.

And as the flames died down, lied there in the middle of where it had struck, Dante. He lied there, flat on his back as the liquefied sand gathered onto him in the shape of bandages, his vacant eyes staring up at the sky evening sky overhead, signaling the end of the day in shades of orange and purple. He tried to move his body, but it disregarded his commands, totally exhausted from the fight, and temporarily paralyzed by his own weapons, everything from the neck down lacking the ability to move at the moment. But he could still move his lips.

"I commend you Godou, you beat me"

As he heard those words, felt Godou a feeling he hadn't experienced since his baseball days, accomplishment, as well as elation. He had beat Dante, the very same that had behaved like a mentor to him in the beginning, one of far greater knowledge and experience than himself in the magical side of the world. But even so, was he the one to get up on top in their fight, letting him taste his first real taste of victory as a Campione. And he had to say, the taste was sweet.

"Lord Kusanagi." Fausto had gotten down from the stands and was now standing before the youngest King, his expression not giving away anything as he kept an air of professionalism around him while he spoke. "I, as well as the others have come to a decision regarding your worth of protecting the relic. And seeing as you managed to defeat my grandson, can't I help but agree with them."

A circular amulet appeared in his right hand, its surface was smooth and dark as Dante's arms when wielding his Blade of the Devil Giant Authority, with the image of a face surrounded by slithering snakes being its only distinguishing feature. Godou reached out his hand to take it, but didn't manage to before his body gave up on him and he collapsed to the ground. Dante wasn't the only one that had exhausted himself. Godou had managed to use the Golden Sword while the White Stallion was still active, something that demanded not only a lot of focus out of him, but an unbelievable amount of energy as well. That he had managed to stand for so long and hadn't collapsed out of exhaustion earlier was close to a miracle.

"Well, it would seem that the celebrations can wait for now. I think the both of you need a good amount of rest first. Erica if you would be so kind as to support your King, will I prepare a car."

"Of course lord Drago." she responded before helping the Japanese Campione up from the ground, and acted as support to keep him standing. She looked over towards where Dante was currently at, only to see two men in suits moving him onto a stretcher.

"Please follow me, Lord Kusanagi, miss Blandelli, I have some rooms prepared back at my estate that you can use to rest up. We can continue the celebration after you have rested up, tomorrow perhaps?"

"Yeah… that sounds… good" Godou replied weakly, his consciousness drifting back and forth, as he was on the very edge of blacking out.

While all of them was moving out of the arena, looked two figures down from the top of the highest intact wall. They had been there during the entire fight, but no one had acknowledged their presences even once. The taller of the two figures was the God that had talked with Godou before at the cafe, the hood of his robe still pulled up over his head. The shorter one was a young girl with short silver hair and violet eyes, and was wearing a school uniform consisting of a white shirt, yellow vest, black skirt and blue knee socks. And finish of her look was a knit cap adorning her head.

"It would appear that we have found what is you are searching for." the robed god pointed out, despite knowing that his companion was very well aware of that fact. He pulled out a book from inside his robe, the cover of the book opening itself, quickly turning its pages before suddenly stopping. "It is just as I remember it."

"As an instrument of a Mother Earth goddess will it never know the meaning of decay or degradation, nor destruction."

"Well, too bad that getting your hands on it will prove harder than expected. They have already teleported it back to wherever it was they kept it before, and I am having some trouble tracing it."

"No matter, the starless night will soon be upon the Earth, and I shall regain my true form then. I have waited several centuries for that moment, so a couple more days waiting is nothing."

"Good to hear you are optimistic of your situation, especially after having witnessed those Authorities." A pair of eyes showed from the shadow created by his hood, looking towards his companion. "You try to hide it, but it is very clear that you are scared."

The small girl, understood what the hooded man was referring to, as her arms had been shaking for a good amount of time now, and had to grip them together to make it stop. "It matters not, once I regain my powers will not even those cursed weapons of his be able to touch me."

Not a moment later than she had said that started her partner to laugh. It wasn't mocking in any way, just heartfelt, as if he had heard a really good joke.

"You must be jestering, oh wise Athena. As a fellow god of knowledge, had I expected you to be more accepting of the truth. Because besides that horse of fire, are those weapons something that will assure your loose if they are used against you, even with your true form." The hooded god turned away from the inside of the Colosseum, his eyes instead looking over the city. "I have to get going, but I will assure you that I will find you before the starless night begins. "

With those words disappeared he, as if fading out of existence, leaving the childlike Athena alone on top of the once glorious arena. There had been few instances in her life when she knew that an opponent would be too great for her to fight, both before and after she lost her original powers. One was the very same man that had stood just besides her mere moments ago. Another was some of the Giants during the Gigantomachia. But all of them paled in comparison to the one that was responsible for her losing her powers, her so called father. He was a memory that didn't only bring her great rage, but it also terrified her, having lost as utterly as she did back then.

But that didn't matter, she was gonna regain her powers and kill the one that had her father's powers. She knew that the man's words were true, but her want for revenge was too great for her to pay them any mind. Just a couple more days, and then she would return to her rightful place.

…

It had already gotten dark by the time that they reached the mansion. Godou still needed support to walk, but didn't need to put as much weight on Erica as before. Dante had also improved, somewhat. He had regained a small bit of his ability to move, but it was currently only his index and middle fingers, the rest of him being just as paralyzed as before. So he had to be moved with the stretcher still.

They were all taken to a seperate room, even if Erica argued that she and Godou could share a room, as well as bed. But they were having none of that, sending her to the room closest to Godou's as compensation.

Meanwhile that discussion was ongoing, carried the two men in charge of the stretcher Dante to his own room. And it was just like Dante remembered it, being able to make out enough of the room despite his current predicament. A large wooden desk, closet in the wall, balcony and a king sized bed, the very minimum that the re Drago mansion had to offer to its guests. The suited men lifted him carefully off the stretcher and onto the bed, before leaving the room not long after.

Dante lied there, flexing his fingers every so often in hope of it helping jumpstart the rest of his arm into action. But he currently wasn't having such luck. Then, when it was fully quiet as far as his Campione enhanced allowed, called he out.

"You can come out now Ebony."

Not any later than that slid one of the closet doors open, with the Egyptian girl stepping out not long after. But something did catch his eyes, something that she was carrying in her hands. Was that rope?

"You won't believe what I managed to find in the Colosseum during your fight"

She stepped to the side, allowing the paralyzed Campione to see what she was referring to. Inside the closet, bound and gagged, lied a young woman around Erica's age, with long, unkempt silver hair, and terrified blue eyes. She was clearly doing her best to get out of her bindings, but whatever knot that Ebony had used was clearly too much for her, especially without her sword.

"I managed to catch a messenger falcon."

The unlucky girl was Liliana Kranjcar, someone Dante knew was currently working for the oldest and most power hungry Campione of those that existed. This day was just getting more and more tiring.

* * *

Used Authorities.

Godou.

 **Lord of Flies -** This Authority grants Godou the ability to summon an infinite number of locust Divine Beasts. These small divine beasts aren't very powerful, but makes up for it in pure numbers, allowing them to overwhelm even the toughest opponent. And while they are weak by Divine Beast standards, can their jaws still chew through iron with their small mouths.

 **Incantation:** I am the one that bears the title of Demon, one that spreads sickness and famine, he who devours all. I will darken the heavens, as my journey strikes madness into the people, my hunger knowing no bounds. Come to me, that which denotes me as the Lord of Flies!

Dante.

 **Weapon of Thunder, Vajra -** A part of the Weapons of Thunder, the signature weapon of Indra. This allows Dante to create a barrier that he can change the size and form of however he wants through his mind. It can also fire powerful thunderbolts, but to do so must Dante deactivate its barrier, removing its defensive capabilities. For him to use this Authority must his opponent either have the intentions of harming either the surrounds or the population, or have the means to do so through their powers. This weapon can also be wielded by anyone with a strong enough affinity to lightning.

 **Incantation:** Thunder of the Spirit, reveal yourself!"


	10. Chapter 10

**My first story to reach double digits in chapters, I am really happy to make this story and hope you guys will continue to read it. Thank you all for making this a possibility.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Campione or any of its characters. I only own my OC's**

* * *

Chapter 10

Light purple meet blue as Dante looked Liliana in the eye to the best of his abilities, which was not a lot considering that his body still couldn't move on its own, making it hard to get a proper look at her. He turned his eyes away from the bound girl, looking at the one responsible for her being here to begin with, which was considerably easier, seeing as she wasn't down on the ground.

"Ebony, why did you decide to kidnap someone we know work for another Campione, especially considering the fact that said Campione is Dejanstahl Voban?" he asked, his voice more than enough to tell the two females that he was clearly tired. Which was understandable, considering everything that had happened today. All he wanted was to rest, wait till the clock struck twelve, and then go to sleep at this point.

He looked over at the bound girl once more, noticing how she immediately tensed as he did. He understood why, the widespread misconception that all Kings are power hungry monsters that spreads terror and rule like tyrants. But Liliana was someone that worked for the very same Campione that fit that description to the letter, so of course would her assumptions be the most justified of them all, having first hand experience in the matter.

"Untie her."

The Egyptian girl was clearly shocked at the sudden order, looking at her King with wide eyes. "Are you sure, Lord Dante? I mean this is the perfect opportunity to-"

Whatever other words that the purple haired girl wanted to speak were promptly halted, as Dante took his attention from her silver haired captive onto her.

"You might not be aware of it, but your action here today will no doubt have extreme impact on future events." Small silver threads started to move along Dante's body, attaching to all his limbs. From his neck, to the tips of his fingers, and down to his feet. The threads started to move, and like a puppet moved he along. Through the use of concentration and his runes was he able to stand again, despite his body still being paralyzed. He walked up to the two girls, his movement noticeably awkward and somewhat robotic. "So, I really hope you have a good explanation for why you decided to do as you did."

"You have seen the future, my brother have seen the future, I am aware that I can never hope to fully understand what impact my actions will have on the future, but I know that even someone like me can change the future. I may not know how, just that I can." Ebony was getting more and more animated as she spoke, something that wasn't usually not seen from the girl in ninja costume, especially towards Dante. "You have done nothing in an attempt at trying to affect the future, so, I was told that as soon as I saw a major chance should I take it. My brother even told me some good pointers."

"..."

Ebony visibly shrunk under Dante's judging gaze, wanting the floor to collapse directly below her so that she could avoid his eyes. But she had no such luck, she could even swear that he had stopped blinking entirely, just so that she wasn't spared from his gaze even for the slightest moment. "So, you did this-"

He motioned towards the still bound and gagged Liliana with his right arm.

"-all because a literal madman told you?"

Ebony looked away, not finding the strength to look at her King and meet his gaze. She felt like she had screwed up, big time. But even if she was being told that what she had done here today was wrong, didn't it feel so to her. No, what felt wrong was the words of accusation that had been aimed towards her and her decision.

"No, not because some madman told me. But because my brother, the one person that can actually see the future of you two, told me. So, even if you tell me my decision was wrong, will I not change my mind, I did the right thing."

For the first time since she had sworn to be his shadow, stood Ebony against her Lord.

Dante was once again silent. It wasn't a silence caused by shock or wonder, his eyes being just as judging as they had been before. This worried Ebony, as she was not aware of what possible consequences there could be for her actions.

"Very well then. If that is what you think is the best decision, then I will just have to take your words for it." His gaze returned to normal, as a smile appeared on his face. He then proceeded to move towards the large wooden desk, and pulled out something from one of it's drawers.

When he turned back around, saw he the expression that Ebony had on her face. Her eyes were wide, filled with confusion and apprehension at his behaviour and actions.

She had expected many things to happen. Him accepting and going along with it, was not one of them. But actually voicing her bewilderment turned out to much harder than she had expected, as no words were coming out of her mouth for some reason. But as she stood there, trying to get any words out, remembered she her order from before.

The Egyptian girl crouched down besides the Croatian girl, her fingers moving towards the knot that kept the bindings together. Meanwhile as she was doing that, lied Liliana completely still, her attention on the one that had ordered for her to be released, never once leaving him unattended with her gaze. She felt how the bindings that bound her started to loosen, making it easier for her to move. And as the last bit of rope was removed from her, stood she up slowly. They might have released her, but she was still cautious of them both, but for varying reasons.

The reason she was cautious of the Egyptian girl, Ebony, was because of how ease she had snuck up on her and knocked her out. She still remembered the overly sweet scent that had assaulted her sense of smell just moments before she had lost consciousness, wondering what it was that she had used to get such quick results.

The reason for the only male in the room was much simpler, he was a Campione. She was aware that comparing all Campione to her current lord, Voban, was rash of her, as the Balkan King was considered cruel and tyrannical even by their standards. But she could still remember the look that had been in his eyes when he had fought. Cold and calculating, never once showing compassion when he was his most serious. Those were eyes that normally didn't belong to a human, but those of an animal that killed because they had to, not because they enjoyed it.

Just remembering those eyes sent a chill through her body, as she imagined what it would be like to be on the receiving end of those cold eyes. But, it also made her realise something when she thought back to them. She had only seen it for a brief moment, but under that cold and unyielding exterior, was there a fire. A fire that burned like nothing she had never seen in another warrior's eyes before. Erica was probably the only one she knew that had showed her something similar in her eyes.

With slow and steady hands, removed she the piece of cloth that had gagged her, allowing her to speak clearly once more. She turned towards the only male in the room, but kept close attention on the one responsible for her being her through her peripheral vision, as she didn't trust her one bit. But her main focus was on the girl's lord.

He just stood there by the balcony door, as if waiting for her to say or do something, which one she wasn't sure about. But she noticed that in doing so had he left her a perfectly clear line from her current position, to the door leading out to the hall. From what little information she knew about these two, was she pretty certain that she could make it out. The girl that had bound her, seemed to rely more on stealth than actual physical capabilities, such as strength and speed. And Dante, currently had the body movement capability of a rusty robot.

In a sudden burst of speed was she a good distance away from Ebony, more than enough to make sure she wasn't suddenly caught. Dante made no implications to move towards her, instead turning his attention to the balcony door, something she found odd. But that left her path free of obstacles, allowing her to reach the door unimpeded. She swung the door open, managing to keep as much speed as possible as she flew out of the room.

Only to enter through the balcony door, right where Dante was waiting for her, his arms ready to catch her.

Liliana, having gone at such a high speed, was unable to change her course in time to avoid the dirty blonde male. Making it easy for him to get a hold on her. Before she knew it, was she carried bridal style in his arms, with the same kind of silver threads that was covering his body starting to bind her. She tried to fight back, but the threads quickly hampered her movements. And before she knew it, was her body fully unable to move.

"I expected you to run. So, I decided to take a small precaution against that." he told her as he walked over to the king sized bed. He placed her down on it, her body forcibly moving into a sitting position as he put her there. "Now, promise me that you won't try that again, and I will release you from the bindings."

That was a easy choice to make, seeing as the room's only exits would only take one to the other one, making any attempts at escaping through them a pointless endeavor. And seeing as she was missing her sword, was busting through one of the walls also out of the option. She was their captive, with her only chance of getting out of here being to comply.

"I promise I won't try to escape again."

For the second time in the span of only a couple minutes, felt she how her bindings loosened from her body. Her body's movement was once again hers to control, but time didn't she move from her position. Instead looked she up at Dante, waiting for him to say whatever it was he wanted to say.

"Well then." he began, having noticed that the Croatian girl was waiting for him to say something. But it was at this point that he realised something. He looked over at the one responsible for the kidnapping, one question currently on his mind. "What exactly do you think I should do with her?"

Ebony visibly thought about the question for a moment, thinking back to the talk she had had with her brother. Only to realise that he had never told her what she would do, only what will have a mayor impact on the future. All she could give him was a shrug of her shoulders. "I don't know exactly, but we can't send her back to Voban either. He would just take this as an opportunity to kill her so that she could be one of his Undead Servants. Seeing as she has probably been gone for far longer than she said she would be."

This assumption appeared to be true, as the mentioned girl visibly tensed and paled at what possible punishment waited for her if she returned. Something that both her captives took note of.

"So, do you think I should keep her?"

Both of the only two females in the room looked at him, shocked at his proposition. The way he had said it wasn't the most flattering, as the words had made it sound like he was regarding an object rather than a person, but his tone was too caring to be regarded as such by the two girls. No, it was the meaning behind them that shocked them.

For a King, a Campione, to say that they are going to keep someone can be regarded as either being recruited by them, or turned into their unwilling servant. But what Dante was currently doing was even worse.

Liliana had already sworn her loyalty as a knight of the Bronze-Black Cross to Sasha Dejanstahl Voban, another Campione. It didn't matter that she had done it under the orders of her grandfather, in their eyes was she rightfully the property of another King, and laying claim to her would be considered insane.

That was if a normal human had done such a thing. When another King did so however, were the implications much graver. It was an insult to the other King, one of their 'possessions' being 'stolen' from them could only be taken as such, especially by a man such as the Balkan's King.

A declaration of war.

"Are you sure that is such a wise choice my lord, this is Duke Voban, the oldest Campione, we're talking about." Ebony voiced her concern, as she started to think that her lord's tired mind might actually have started to affect his judgement. Even amongst Campione was going up against Voban seen as a brash decision, especially amongst those of the younger generation.

"I have to agree with Ebony on this." Even Liliana stepped in, voicing her own concerns. "There is no reason for you to do this, you can just let me go back and nothing will happen."

"If I send you back will it be no better than having killed you myself." Dante's calm and collected tone cut through their concerns, his face set in a expression of contemplation, as he thought of what he should do. "It is ultimately better that you stay here, just for the moment at the very least."

Voban wouldn't be able to find out that Liliana was here through his Undead Servants, as the entire mansion was surrounded by several defensive barriers, some of which blocked one from looking into it, or searching for someone in it through the use of magic. So as long as she stayed here would she be safe. But that didn't mean that he could just keep her locked away on the mansion ground until she died, or that Voban finally kicked the bucket.

But that made him realise something as he thought about it. Voban had no way of actually finding out what she was doing or where she were, so.

"Tell me Liliana, are you willing to become my knight, swear your loyalty to me as not only a knight, but also as a bodyguard of the re Drago family?" he had took a hold of her hands, holding them gently in his own. "If you do, will I be able keep you safe from Voban."

Liliana looked at him shocked, which soon turned into embarrassment as he went down on his knees, her hands still in his. Her imagination flew wild, several plot lines for her novel taking place in her head, before she was violently dragged back to reality by the situation at hand. Escaping lord Voban's grip was a dream come true, having had to live with the thought that the slightest mistake could have her killed for the last couple of weeks. But that begged the question: was Dante any better than Voban?

He did seem nice enough, never having shown any traits similar or close to those of her current King. He had also forgiven Ebony for what she felt like had probably been a great offence, having accepted it as soon as he was told that she thought she had made the right choice. He was nice, accepting, and forgiving, all properties of a King that cared for his subjects.

But then there was the Dante she had seen in battle. It was like a switch was flipped, as he went from the kind young man that was currently holding her hands, to a cold and impassive fighter that would put himself through all kinds of harm to get an advantage. The contrast between them was like day and night. One was warm, inviting, and made one feel safe. While the other was cold, dark, and intimidating.

Which asked the question, which one was the real Dante?

"Will you let me think about it?" This wasn't a decision she could just make right here and now, she would need time before she made her choice on the matter.

Dante was quiet for a moment, his face showing that he was clearly thinking about it. He then looked over at Ebony.

"Do you think that you can take her to one of the guest rooms without getting caught?"

The tanned girl scoffed at the question, clearly finding some humor in it. "Of course I can, how did you think I got here otherwise?"

"Through the balcony"

The Egyptian girl flinched at the answer, having clearly been found out about her route into the house. But even then was it an impressive feat, seeing as the mansion is constantly under heavy surveillance, and that she would have had to carried Liliana's unconscious body up two floors.

He let go of Liliana's hands, moving towards the door to undo what it was that had caused the silver haired girl to be stuck inside the room. Out from the keyhole, pulled he out what looked like a spike, with the face of a young man having been formed at one end. He peeked out of the door, looking to see if the coast was clear.

"No one's there." He looked back at the two girls that were now behind him. "The guest room right across should be vacant, and if you guys are lucky might it even have one extra bed."

Ebony nodded, having gotten her instructions, and was quick to move across the hall. Liliana however, waited just by the doorway. She looked up at Dante, his height making her have to crane her neck a little to look him in the eye.

"Thank you, lord Dante, for giving me this opportunity." She bowed slightly, hoping to truly show just how grateful she truly was for what he was doing.

"Take it easy Liliana, I am not your lord, yet. I'm just glad to help, especially after Ebony decided to drop you off here." It was true, hadn't Ebony decided to kidnap the poor girl, wouldn't they be having this conversation right now. Whatever it was for better or worse, only time would tell.

"Even so, thank you lo-, Dante. Have a good night."

"You too."

With those last words walked they their separate ways. Liliana towards the room where her kidnaper had went, and Dante towards his bed.

As Liliana was safe within the confines of the guest room, looked she down at her hands, feeling the still lingering heat that had come from Dante's hands. It felt surreal, to know that a King, a Campione, had shown such care and kindness towards a normal human such as herself, as it was something almost entirely unheard of. Normally knew they that they are far beyond humans and everything they can hope to accomplish, taking anything and anyone they want without any concern for their own will or importance.

Maybe serving a King like him wouldn't be too bad.

She looked over at her companion for the night, the girl that was the reason for all of this. And for the first time could she finally see her entire face clearly, as she had removed the cloth that had kept the lower half. That wasn't the only piece of clothing that she was removing, as more and more skin was being shown. It wasn't until some time later that Liliana realised that she wasn't about to stop any time soon.

"W-W-What are you doing?!" her hands flew up to her face, covering her eyes so that she wouldn't see the Egyptian girl in her state of undress. But there was some feeling of deja vu in how she acted right now, feeling like she had experienced someone else doing the exact same thing, but she couldn't place her finger on who.

"I like to sleep naked." With that response disappeared she under the covers of one the beds, before proceeding to remove her undergarments.

Liliana breathed out a sigh of relief, seeing that her roommate at least had some decency. She looked over at the other bed, before she also prepared herself for the night. Keeping at least her shirt and undergarments on.

As she got underneath the cover, looked she over at Ebony. She currently had mixed feelings about the tanned girl, seeing as she kidnapped her, but also gave her an opportunity to escape her current master.

She wanted to ask her about her own experience serving the second Italian Campione, but refrained from doing so, as she had noticed that the other girl had already fallen asleep. Instead closed she her eyes, as sleep soon overtook her, sending her to the land of dreams.

Back in Dante's room, was he waiting for the clock to strike twelve, seeing how all hands were soon aligned at twelve.

11:59 pm, and only 30 seconds until it struck 12.

'Have I really made the right decision?' That was the thought that he had been asking himself as soon as the girls had left. He knew that Liliana was usually a major part of Godou's future in several timelines, having seen as much with his Authority. But what would happen if she instead became his knight?

He didn't know, to be completely honest had he no clue. Several events would no doubt change because of this, like they already had. Godou's future confrontation with Voban would probably be avoided, much like Godou's fight against Salvatore Doni. That one had left an uneasy feeling in his stomach for some reason, despite knowing that it was a good thing.

Doni was usually Godou's first experience with how another Campione might act. And not to be rude, but the first Italian Campione was by no means a good first impression. The only that really would be besides himself, would have to be Aisha, and John Pluto Smith. As they were the only Campione that actually went out on their way to help others, in their own ways.

But that left him wondering, where was Doni in that case? Last time he had heard anything regarding him was he still in the country, just enjoying life apparently, as they had seen him buy gelato. But that was more than a week ago now, and no information about his whereabouts had appeared since.

Then there was Liliana, the knight that he 'stole' from Godou. Well, he didn't technically steal her from him, seeing as they haven't interacted even once, so she wouldn't be affected by the Kusanagi charm. And seeing as she had gotten into contact with Ebony, couldn't he just let her go. She, as well as the entire Red Sands organisation was one of his greatest resources, but that relied on that their existence remained hidden from the rest of the magic world.

But Liliana, for all her knight like demeanor, was a delicate and shy girl, something he bore witness to multiple times during his little looks through the multiverse. This had also lead to him read several of her stories, something that he would have to keep quiet about in the beginning. But he had to say, she had a talent in the field of romance novels.

It was because of these two reasons that he decided that she could be his knight. While Ebony was loyal and a somewhat competent fighter, could he never actually get her help unless it meant that no witnesses would remain, whether they were friend or foe. Meanwhile, didn't Liliana have that problem, she was someone that took her duties as a knight seriously, and would no doubt be someone that he could count on if she decided to accept his offer.

A sudden wave of agonizing pain ceased all thoughts that were going through his mind. His nerves burned, while it felt like he was repeatedly stabbed from the inside out, piercing through bones, muscle, and flesh without causing any actual damage to his body. He felt as if skin was burning as it grew heavier, as if someone was pouring melted metal onto it.

But even as he was put through this torturous experience, could he do nothing against it, except wait it out.

Then, just before one minute had passed, ceased the pain that had been going through his entire body. But even if had just been less than a minute, had it felt like forever to Dante, his body's only response being to fall unconscious after that.

He wanted to say that he was surprised as he regained consciousness, but he really wasn't. He felt hard rock under his feet. A smooth yet rough surface that gave plenty of grip, without any jagged lines that could hurt one as you walked. Everything was blue over and around him, as the vast sky stretched out all around him, before disappearing in a thick carpet of white clouds underneath. And floating around him was several boulders of varying size, some of which were making a very conspicuous path in front of him.

He stood by the same crossroad as last time, just where the road split into three different roads, only two of which he didn't know where they would take him. So without any hesitation sat he his foot down on the middle path, flowers sprouting up from the otherwise barren rock as he did, the most catching of them all being a red chrysanthemum.

But before he continued any further, caught something from his right peripheral vision his attention, causing him to turn towards it.

There on the beginning of the rock path to the right, sprouted a single, lonely flower, clearly weaker and would no doubt crumble with the slightest gust of wind. A single flower, with silvery petals that ended in blue edges, weak and dying, had managed to gain his attention. Even winning out against the red chrysanthemum for a moment.

While the pull was definitely stronger along the path he was currently standing on, was he unable to overlook that one flower, as it also pulled at his mind. He knew what lied at the end of the path he was already on, but he was also curious as to what had caused the other path to suddenly gain a form of life, despite how weak it may be.

He looked down the path that he was standing on, trying to see the end of it, but with no such luck. His heart ached, longing for who was at the end of it, but he was curious to this sudden change.

Somehow, won curiosity against longing in the end. With one long step from one path to the other, stood he just before the half dead flower. He was careful, as to not step on it by accident. He crouched down, getting as close to it as he could to get a better look.

It seemed to grow to life at his presence, as if trying to better catch his attention, its petals spreading outwards, and finally showing him what flower it was. A lily.

Without thinking, started his hand to move towards it, a single finger reaching out to it. It seemed to react to his action, as if sentient, as one of its petals lifted higher to meet him. And as they met, felt he something take root inside him. It was a feeling that was hard to explain, but he could compare it the feelings he held towards her, but different somehow. Explaining it in words felt impossible, as no words he could think of would be able to fully convey either of those feelings.

Before he was able to fully grasp at what it was he felt, was he suddenly back in his room. But it felt different this time than when he had fallen unconscious. The heaviness that usually was in his heart felt different somehow, but no less of a burden than before.

It had been too long since he had last seen her, he needed to see her, feel her touch, hear her voice, anything that would let him know that she was still safe. He wanted to wrap his arms around her, and never let her go, just to make sure she was with him and safe.

The heavy feeling was accompanied by a emptiness he hadn't felt in a long time, causing an aching pain as a result. No matter how much he wished for it, wasn't it possible at the moment, she was beyond his reach, somewhere he could never hope to go without her. While painful was it the truth, he would have to endure it in the meantime, no matter how much it pained him to do so.

A knock was heard from the door to his room, before being followed up by a feminine voice. "Lord Dante, your grandfather is expecting you in the dining room. Lord Kusanagi and Erica have already made their way there."

Before he could give an answer heard he as the lady's hard soled shoes got further and further away from his door, probably proceeding to one of her other tasks. A mansion as big as this wouldn't maintain itself after all, so every maid and butler would be needed.

But Dante didn't care about the words she had spoken. He just sat on his bed, a simple silver ring in his hands. Having already removed it from its chain, placed he it on his right ring finger. He found some comfort in the ring, soothing the ache in his heart slightly.

He just stared up at the ring that now adorned his finger, stretching up his arm towards the ceiling as he did. In that moment didn't anything else matter. Not his grandfather, not the impending prophecy of the starless night, not his pending recruitment of Liliana Kranjcar. For those few moments was he at peace, as his mind was somewhere else, with someone that currently wasn't here.

But everything sadly comes to an end sooner or later. He couldn't postpone his grandfather's calling for too long, or they would start worrying. So with his body now capable of moving again, made he his way to the dining room.

He, unlike two others, actually knew his way through the entire mansion, having grown up in it during big parts of his childhood. And while it had definitely changed somewhat since all those years ago, was it still familiar enough for him to not get lost. But he did notice that all butlers, maids and guards that either passed or looked at him grew concerned as they saw him. He understood why as it wasn't like he was trying to hide it, as even with the ring still enveloping his finger, felt he empty, something that others were able to quickly recognise.

Not surprising, as it he currently had the same eyes that his father, their late master, had shown at times before. They were also aware of their peculiar condition, as it wasn't caused by any form of disease or anything similar. It was something they had given themselves, an ideology that none of them could ever hope to fully understand, no matter how much they wanted to.

Their only hope was that unlike his father, hadn't Dante been nearly as consumed by it, which had lead to his death in the end. That had been the path he had chosen, to never find even one path in life. Which was also the main difference between them. While his father had found none, had he found one.

However, was that a hard path to follow, as it would often disappear for long stretches of time, leaving him to wander aimlessly until it appeared again. Sometimes wasn't it hard, but at other times would it feel like his very heart would be crushed by nothing.

He tried to look as normal as possible when he entered the room they were waiting in, the ring supporting him emotionally.

"Good morning Dante!"

The first one to greet him was his fellow Campione, Godou, who was currently munching on what Dante could only regard as a 'classical' Italian breakfast. Several kinds of bread, jams, plenty of butter, different kinds of cookies and smaller pastries were spread out over the dining table. And in front of all that was present was there also a cup of coffee-based beverage of their own choosing, something that was the main focus on the table for Fausto, Lucretia, and Erica, as they had yet to actually touch any of the other foods in front of them.

He truly was back home.

He smiled, a bit forced, but came off as fully natural. "Good morning, Godou!" He replied, sitting down on the chair opposite to him, seeing as the chair to his left was currently occupied by Erica. This also meant that the both of them were currently sitting right besides one of the greatest humans within the magical side of the world. Not that it had much meaning at the moment, as there was one absolute rule in this household, implemented by the lady of the house herself.

No talk about magic, gods, or anything of the like by the dining table.

This was a rule that had been followed ever since Fausto inherited the organisation from his own father, having already been married for sometime before then. It had yet to be broken, but no one ever dared to try, afraid of what punishment might befall them for doing so.

And as such, passed breakfast along pretty uneventfully. The only somewhat major happening being the instructions for where Fausto, Godou, and Dante would met in a bit.

But before that had he decided that he and his grandson needed some time to talk for a bit. He wasn't exactly clear about what, just saying that they needed to catch up with each other. And as such had they moved to the older man's office, which was also the room that would be used to inform Godou about his role as the keeper of the Gorgoneion and what it would entail.

Fausto looked at his oldest grandchild, a fond smile on face. It had been a long time since they had just sat down and talked. Not as a Campione and organisation leader, but as grandfather and grandchild. Something they couldn't do often because of Fausto's duties and Dante's travels.

"How long has it been since last we had a talk? A year perhaps?"

"That sounds about right, me and Maria hadn't been back in a while after all."

The both of them got quiet for a second, as they didn't know exactly what they could talk about. While it had been about a year since last time they had done something like this, weren't they sure were it would be best to start a conversation.

"How have your travels been this year?" The older of the two males started, hoping to at least get a conversation going.

"It has been great, we decided to take our travel farther north this time, and spent a couple months going through Scandinavia, as well as Iceland and Finland. We even managed to feel some of the Nordic cold before we traveled through Russia, to China. Maria had really missed the people that had been our hosts last time we were there, and it was clear they had felt the same way. So, we decided to stay a bit longer this time, staying there to the middle of spring. We helped out of course, as we wanted to repay them for their hospitality." Dante smiled as he brought up memories from his latest travel. "And we couldn't stay there much longer, or Luo Hao might have caught on that another Campione was in her territory."

"And you didn't think you could beat her?" This was something that held great importance to the old man, as Dante was not only his grandson, but his absolutely last, and best, defence against a Campione if they were to attack him and his headquarters. If he knew that he couldn't beat them, would it be bad if that scenario ever happened.

Dante contemplated this question for a moment. He didn't know how he would be able to make an educated guess without actually fighting against her first. He could see her abilities by looking into the future of another timeline sure. But that didn't help him compare how he himself would fare against said abilities. The logical conclusion. "I don't know. While I am somewhat aware of how she fights and her abilities, can't I say for sure how it would turn out if it ever came to that."

"I see." That was both relieving and disconcerting. While he didn't know that he would be sure to lose against her, didn't he know if he could win either. "Please, keep going."

"Well there isn't much else after that, we did a minor stop through Egypt before traveling back to Europe. We took some time walking through Greece before we returned home, and that is pretty much it" He didn't feel like going over the minor details, feeling how he was starting to get emotionally drained again, the ring starting to have little effect.

This was something that his grandfather of course took notice of. "You haven't been able to see her for a while now have you."

"No"

Even his tone started showing signs of his condition, as he had sounded so sad and pitiful when he replied. He tried to counteract it by playing with the ring a little, but had no such luck in doing so, as the heaviness was steadily returning. He didn't even notice that his grandfather had stood up from his chair and walked over to until he placed a hand on his shoulder, snapping his attention to him.

While many of the organisation members worried about Dante and the ideology that he shared with his father, was it not on the same scale as Fausto. He, unlike the others, had seen how it had started affecting his oldest son early on and how it could change a person. His son, Dante and Maria's father, had been a normal child growing up in a family of magic users. It wasn't until later that he started thinking that there had to be more in life, or at least another purpose.

But that had only started to tear at him, as he never found a greater purpose or meaning with his life. So he started traveling, trying to see if what he was searching for lied beyond Italy. But even that didn't seem to help him, but seemed instead to have the opposite effect.

It wasn't until he finally meet Lucretia Zola that he finally put it behind him for some time, prioritizing to raise a family of his own. It didn't stop his travels later on, but it had stopped to pain him like it had before.

The elderly man didn't know why his son was so insistent on why his family wasn't his so called path. And he would never truly know.

So seeing something similar in his grandson really pained him, as he felt just as powerless as he did back then once more. Even if the circumstances were different, was the effect the same.. If this kept going was he sure that it would lead to Dante's self-destruction.

But there was nothing he could do to stop him. All he could do was support him to the best of his capabilities, so that the thing that happened to his son doesn't befall his grandson.

The older man didn't say anything, not wanting to make empty promises or give him false words of encouragement. Instead let he his actions do the talking.

Dante just sat on the chair completely silent, as his mind was processing his grandfather's action. He understood the meaning behind it: 'I will support you'.

For just a brief moment wanted he to tell his grandfather everything. About Liliana, everything involving the Red Sands, how far he and her had actually taken their relationship despite being told not to. He even felt like declaring his title of Demon King to the entire magical world, after having kept it hidden all this time. He didn't know why, but he just felt like letting everything out, despite the possible repercussions.

"It is okay that I am not present when you hand over the Gorgoneion, right?" He needed to take it easy for a while, despite knowing that it wouldn't accomplish much in helping against his condition. But before then needed he to inform his grandfather about a couple things.

The elderly man looked a bit confused at the question, not having expected the younger male to ask that. "Well, you aren't obliged to be here then, so you can of course chose to not present by then."

"Alright. Then there were some things that I needed I also needed to inform you about. Please do listen to it all before you say anything." He paused for a moment as he waited for the older man's response.

And with a nod got he the response he was waiting for, and with that started he talking. About Liliana, from everything between her being kidnapped by Ebony, to her currently thinking about her response to him wanting her as his knight. And about the latest precognition Fadil had had about one week ago.

But most of all poured he his heart out, talking about how much it hurt that she wasn't with him. About how he missed everything about her, from her voice, hair, eyes, skin, touch and overall presence. By the end of it all didn't he even realise that he had started crying at some point through it all, only noticing it as Fausto handed him an handkerchief.

It was quiet between them for a while, both of them probably thinking about the conversation in someway.

The older of the two was focusing mainly on the topic of Liliana and Fadil's precognition. He was already aware about the entire Red Sands organisation and even provided them with economical support, seeing them much like his grandson as a valuable asset. But to hear that Dante's only real subordinate had kidnapped someone that worked directly with Duke Voban was not something that he expected. He did indeed see an opportunity with it, as he had wanted Dante to get a companion that didn't need to stay in the shadows and could stand by his side. So getting him a knight was something the older blonde agreed on.

But having to steal her from Duke Voban? What was the girl thinking?

And then there was Fadil and his vision from the future. Another Campione so soon after Godou? It sounded impossible no matter how he thought about it, but he couldn't deny it. He lacked the resource of clairvoyance without the Egyptian organisation, and Fadil's visions rarely proved themselves to be wrong. So chances were pretty high that Campione number 9 would soon join the other 8. The only questions being where and when they would appear.

"This information does not leave this room. Go and inform Liliana that I want to meet her after I have sent away Godou and Erica." His visage had once more turned serious, meaning that he was no longer speaking as Dante and Maria's grandfather, but as Fausto re Drago the leader of the Drago Familia. A man whose power and influence was the closest to rivaling that of a Campione, despite being a normal human.

Dante only nodded in response, not finding it in himself to speak at the moment, wanting nothing more than to lie down and take it easy for a moment.

The trip back to the rooms he and the girls were using didn't take too long. It was certainly a longer trip than it had been to the dining room, but not nearly enough to be a nuisance of any kind.

He knocked at the door to the room the two women had used last night, not wanting to suddenly barge in without at least having given them a proper warning first. He stood there waiting for a response of some kind, only for the door to actually open. Standing there in the small space that had been made saw he Liliana.

She let out a noticeable sigh of relief upon seeing that it was only him. She had probably been hoping on that he was the only one that actually knew about her being here, and that there wasn't for some other reason that someone would be paying a visit. At least had the knocking helped her determine it, as someone that would be there to clean would probably know whether or not the room was supposed to be occupied to begin with. "Good morning Dante, I hope you have had a good night's sleep."

He wasn't ready for her to greet him like that, having expected something more courteous from the silver haired knight. This was more relaxed than what he was used of seeing from her, as she would usually act like the knight she had been trained to be unless finding a reason not to.

But even so decided he to greet her back "Good morning, Liliana." It was about here that he noticed the absence of his most devoted and currently only subordinate. "Where's Ebony?"

"She said she had something to do and left earlier this morning." she informed him, before taking a look towards the balcony door. "She really likes to use the balcony huh."

Dante chuckled a little at that, knowing what it was that Liliana was referring to, and he had to agree. "Kinda, it is more that she prefers the route with the least amount of potential witnesses."

"I see."

"Was there anything you needed Dante? I didn't expect to see you until later." the knight asked, curious about his reason for being here. Especially when keeping in mind that she was supposed to stay hidden, making it dangerous to actively going to her location.

"Yeah, my grandfather wanted to talk with you after Godou and Erica has left." he informed, feeling that he needed to explain himself when he saw the silver haired knight look at him in confusion. "I explained the situation to him, he seems to wanna discuss something."

Liliana nodded, seeming to accept the situation without any problem. It was also at this point that Dante realised something important.

"Wait here and I will bring you breakfast. Tell me, do you have any prefered drink for breakfast?"

"A cup of coffee would be delightful right now, thank you."

…

Later that day, after Godou had received the Gorgonian, as well as a lengthy explanation about keeping it safe and not letting it get into the wrong hands, and left the mansion together with the Diavolo Rosso, was Liliana the next one to enter his office.

Liliana had heard about the man before, not only from her grandfather, but even her former lord as well. More often than not would it be words of praise, truly telling one of his influence in the magic world. She knew that he was a man of power, whose reach stretched across the world.

But there was none of that in the man sitting in front of her. In that moment looked he like nothing more than a elderly man wanting to talk to someone that was a close friend of his grandchild, which felt weird, as Liliana hadn't even known Dante for 24 hours yet.

But even in his somewhat carefree demeanor, was there a certain look in his eyes that told her how serious this meeting actually was.

"Hello there, Liliana Kranjcar-"

With that one greeting stood the silver haired knight at full attention, all her years of knightly training making themselves known in that instant.

"-I think it is time we discuss your future here."

* * *

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